Of Ghosts and Demons
by Shadowfang14
Summary: AU. Inuyasha parody. Sam Manson was just an ordinary schoolgirl-until she fell into an alternate dimension full of ghosts and monsters, especially a certain white-haired half-ghost DISCONTINUED Now up for adoption!
1. Introductions

**AN**: _Hello, readers! Well, this is a fanfic that I've wanted to write for a while, ever since I saw a pic on DeviantArt a couple years back of Danny, Sam, and Tucker as Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku, respectively XD I finally got around to writing it several months back, after watching some of the actual Inuyasha anime. Also, the chapters are gonna be pretty long, since I'm basing them off the actual Inuyasha episodes. However, I still haven't seen the entire series, so the story is probably gonna start to deviate from the anime after a while. Also, there are some other differences too, to fit into the DP continuity-you'll see what I mean. Well, anyway, read, review, and let me know if you think I should continue!_

**_Disclaimer_**_: How about I read you a poem? Roses are red, and violets are blue. I own nothing, and neither do you. _

All was quiet and peaceful in the ghost zone. The sun was shining, the birds were singing…

And then suddenly, an explosion. Screams filled the air as the select humans who actually _lived_ there ran for their lives.

"Look out!" one man screamed. "It's Danny Phantom!" No sooner had he said this than a white-haired, black-suited half-ghost boy flew from the wreckage of the house he had just blown up. Some of the people, armed with weapons such as ecto-blasters and darts, started firing at the boy, but, being the quick, agile halfa he was, he managed to avoid them. Finally, he flew, intangible, into a house, grabbing a rectangular yellow gem off of a table, and flew outside. Danny Phantom smirked as he held the gem up to his face.

"Finally." He smirked. "A way for me to become a full ghost at last!" His plans were short-lived, however, as a cry pierced the air.

"Danny!" Danny's head whipped around-just in time for him to see a red-haired teenage girl holding a net-launcher gun.

"DIE!" the girl shouted, firing a glowing green net. Before Danny had time to move, he was caught in the net and wrapped around a tree while being painfully electrocuted. He kept his eyes open just long enough to see the girl walking towards him, a stern look on her face.

"J-Jazz!" he groaned. "Why?" The boy could say no more. Hurt both physically and emotionally, he passed out. The girl then dropped her weapon and doubled over in pain, putting her hand to her side, where she was bleeding profusely. An out-of-shape man in about his mid-thirties ran up to her.

"Dante's Inferno!" he exclaimed. "Jazzmine!" The girl weakly reached over to pick up the gem, which Danny had dropped whilst being wrapped up, and held it up to her father figure.

"I-I want you to take this, Mr. Lancer." She choked out. "Take it, and send it to be hidden away in the real world. That way, no ghosts can ever get it again." With trembling hands, Lancer took the jewel, and clasped his adopted daughter's hand as other humans began to crowd around them. And then, her hand went limp, and the man knew immediately that she would never move again.

"JAZZMINE!" he cried in grief. That night, Jazz's body was cremated, and shortly after the funeral, Mr. Lancer approached the entrance to the real world. With all his strength, he threw the jewel through the portal, and prayed to God that it would never be found by a ghost ever again.

* * *

><p>"Are you <em>serious<em>?" It was ten years later. 14-year-old Goth girl Sam Manson sat in front of her grandmother, listening as the old lady, once again, told her stories of this so-called 'Ghost Zone'.

"Oh, come on, Sammy!" the old lady encouraged her with a sad smile. "I thought you were into this stuff!"

"Sorry, Grandma." Sam said. "I WAS into ghosts, but you've told me all these stories about the Ghost Zone since I was a little girl. Now it's just getting old."

"But it's true, Sam!" her grandma said. "Every word of it!" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"So you honestly expect me to believe that there's an entire world aside from ours, where ghosts thrive, and there are like maybe 2-3 humans living there alongside the ghosts?" Sam's grandmother was about to respond, but then was interrupted by the arrival of Sam's parents.

"Mother, are you telling Sam those ghost stories of yours again?" Mr. Manson asked. "You're corrupting her mind! It's no wonder she's going through this whole 'Goth' thing right now!" Sam was tempted to tell her dad that she was Goth to compensate for his and her mother's overly-chipper attitudes, but her mom said

"Anyway, it's time for school, Sam. You should get going."

"Alright." Sam groaned. Standing up, she picked up her backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and left the house with a quick 'goodbye' to everyone. Sam moaned as she walked down the street to her school. Her life was anything BUT normal. Her parents were so plastic, they might as well have been mannequins, and they were always trying to push their way of life on her as well. Her grandma was okay, but Sam would have liked it if she would give the ghost stories a rest every now and then.

Sam was just thinking about her favorite bookstore, Skulk and Lurk, and wondering if she should stop there on her way home, when she suddenly heard a soft mewing. Looking up, she saw her black cat, Lilith, standing on a fence and gazing at her with inquisitive green eyes.

"Hey girl." Sam smiled, reaching over and petting the cat. As she leaned in, Sam noticed that Lilith was holding something in her mouth. It wasn't a dead bird, or any other small animal, so Sam knew that it wasn't a snack.

"Hey, what've you got there, Lilith?" Sam asked. She started to reach her hand out to take the thing, however, Lilith just ran off with it.

"Lilith!" Normally a small thing like that wouldn't have bothered Sam. However, for some strange reason, she followed the cat down the alley, completely forgetting about school, and saw her behind an old abandoned butcher's shop.

"Got you!" Sam said triumphantly, holding the cat up. No sooner had she said this than Sam suddenly got a strange feeling. She couldn't explain it, but something was wrong. She turned around, just in time to see the ghostly apparition of a cafeteria lady coming out of a strange vortex behind the building. Sam didn't even have time to move as the lady grabbed her and started to pull her back into the portal with her. Letting out a cry of surprise, Sam let go of Lilith, subconsciously grabbing something in mid-air as the cat ran off in fear.

Once Sam was inside the portal, it was a strange feeling. She could feel herself falling, however, it was so slow that she might as well have been floating. The ghastly cafeteria lady turned Sam around to face her.

"Give me the Divine Jewel!" she shrieked. "Give it to me! And maybe I'll treat you to some nice cookies and milk!" she added, suddenly changing her tone, and sounding more like a kindly old Granny as she pulled a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk out of seemingly nowhere."

"Jewel?" Sam asked in surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about! And even if I did, I wouldn't give it to you!"

"THEN PERISH!" the old woman said, going back to her evil self as she tossed the snack aside and reached for Sam.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sam asked. "GET AWAY FROM ME!" With an almighty roundhouse kick, she sent the old ghost flying away, and suddenly, her descent into nothingness seemed to get quicker. Before Sam knew it, her feet had touched the ground. "Huh?" she said in surprise. "Where am I?" She just then realized that she was holding something in her fist. Opening it, she saw a rectangular yellow gem.

"What's this?" she asked out loud. "Wait-this is what Lilith had earlier. Could this be the Divine Jewel that…thing was talking about?" Putting the jewel away in a pocket of her skirt, she reached up and climbed out of the hole she had somehow gotten into. Sam looked down, and suddenly realized that she had just been in a well. She looked around. Everything looked the same as her own town, and yet strangely different. There were still people, but just about everything seemed to be surrounded by a strange green swirling vortex of nothing, just like the portal she had gone through when the ghost dragged her in. Wait…ghost? Somehow, without being told, Sam knew automatically where she was.

"Toto, I don't think we're in Amity Park anymore." She joked to nobody in particular. As Sam started walking, she noticed something else. There, tied to a tree in an empty lot next to her, was a boy. However, she could see right away that he looked very strange. He looked human, for the most part, but he was wearing a black, one-piece suit. Despite his age (he had to be her age!) he had snow-white hair. _And_ he was glowing. Sam walked up to him curiously.

"A boy?" she asked. "What happened to him? Why is he on this tree? And isn't he a little young to have white hair?" Despite herself, she reached up and brushed his hair. The boy suddenly twitched, and Sam backed up a little. He groaned as he started to come to, and his eyes opened slowly, revealing glowing green orbs. His eyes then narrowed in anger as he saw the girl in front of him.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "What are you doing here?" Sam glared at him, suddenly angry about the boy's attitude towards her.

"If you must know, I'm Sam Manson!" she said. "And what's with the attitude?" Danny didn't answer her. Instead, he just asked another question.

"Did Jazz send you?"

"Jazz?" Sam asked, then blinked in surprise. "Who's Jazz?" Before Danny could answer, Sam was suddenly surrounded by the people of the city.

"Look!" a woman shouted. "She's with Danny Phantom!" Everyone gasped, and started talking among themselves.

"Do you think she might be a ghost too?" someone else asked.

"Hoo boy." Sam sighed, knowing that things were gonna get even more out of hand.

* * *

><p>Later, she was tied up with some kind of strange glowing rope, and everyone was still talking among themselves.<p>

"I don't get it." A person thought out loud. "You'd think that, being a ghost, she'd try to escape."

"I'm NOT a ghost!" Sam shouted impatiently.

_If I knew that this was in store for me, I'd just have gone straight to school._ She thought. She had just starting cursing under her breath, when suddenly, she heard somebody else coming.

"Out of the way, out of the way!" a man said. Before long, the newcomer stood before Sam.

He was an out-of-shape man, who appeared to be in his mid-forties, at least, and was bald. For some reason, he reminded Sam of a teacher.

"Mr. Lancer!" a woman said. "We found this girl near Danny Phantom! We think that she might be a ghost too, and might be trying to help him escape! What do you think?" Mr. Lancer looked Sam up and down.

"Tell-Tale Heart, are you all mad, people?" he exclaimed. "This girl is obviously human!" Everyone looked around sheepishly, avoiding his eyes. The man named Mr. Lancer sighed as he started to untie Sam.

"I do apologize for the harsh way you were treated, Miss." He said.

"Forget it." Sam said, as she shook off the remaining ropes.

"Come with me." Mr. Lancer said. Seeing no other alternative, Sam followed the man to his house.

"My name is Sam." She introduced herself a couple minutes later, after she had made herself comfortable. "Sam Manson." Mr. Lancer, personally, believed that Sam was a strange name for a girl, but he didn't press the matter. Instead, he asked

"You're not from around here, are you, Miss Manson?"

"No." Sam replied, confirming his suspicions. "I'm from the real world. I only got here when I started chasing my cat. I found her behind some old abandoned butcher's shop. Once I caught her, this weird portal opened up behind me, and this old lady ghost grabbed me and dragged me in."

"Hmm." Mr. Lancer rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's troubling. Still, now that you're here, you must be VERY careful, Miss Manson. This place is home to many ghosts, some more vicious than others. You should be on your guard."

"There's something I don't get." Sam said. "If this is the _Ghost_ Zone, then why are there humans here?" Mr. Lancer was about to answer, but then was interrupted by a shout from outside.

"Mr. Lancer! It's the Lunch Lady!" Both Lancer and Sam jumped out of their seats and ran outside. Sam gasped as she saw the specter floating in the air, controlling massive amounts of food to attack the people.

"Where is it?" she demanded. "WHERE IS THE DIVINE JEWEL?"

"Everyone get to safety!" Lancer shouted as he grabbed a weapon and started firing. The Lunch Lady ghost buried him in a pile of meat, then turned to Sam.

"YOU!" she shouted, and Sam uncharacteristically gasped. "YOU HAVE IT!"

_Oh yeah, that's right!_ Sam remembered as she placed a hand to her pocket. _I accidentally brought it along with me…oh no._ Before Sam could so much as THINK of running, the Lunch Lady Ghost caught her in her sea of meat and brought her up to her.

"GIVE IT TO ME! GIVE IT TO ME!" the woman screamed hysterically. "And I'll let you have some hot dogs!" she added, going to her chipper self.

"No thanks!" Sam said. "I'm an Ultra-Recyclo vegetarian!"

"THEN SUFFER UNDER MY POWER!" the Lunch Lady Ghost shouted, using her powers to grab the Divine Jewel out of Sam's pocket and then swallowing it. An evil glow surrounded her, and Sam gasped as her meat started to fly towards her, covering her. Before long, a giant meat monster stood before everyone.

_Is that the power of the Divine Jewel?_ Sam wondered, once she was safely back on her feet. _To turn ghosts into monsters like THAT?_ Laughing evilly, the overgrown hunk of meat started stomping through the city, and Sam automatically started running. She didn't know where she was going, she just knew that she had to get away. Before long, she found herself back in front of the boy everyone was calling Danny Phantom.

"Oh, so _you're_ back." He said, as if unhappy to see her. He tilted his head to look at the chaos that was spreading. "Looks like you're having a little bit of trouble."

"Gee, ya think?" Sam asked sarcastically. She winced as she heard a scream of pain, and Danny looked at her seriously.

"Hey, I'll tell you what." he said. "I can stop her-but you need to get me off this tree." Sam looked at him, not sure whether or not to believe him.

"Really?" she asked. "How do I know I can trust you?" Another person screamed, and Danny glared down at her.

"Well, would you rather have them continue to suffer?" he asked. And, in that split second, Sam made up her mind. Grabbing the net, she started to unwrap Danny. Mr. Lancer, who was nearby, saw what she was doing and gasped in horror.

"Miss Manson, no!" But it was too late. The net fell from around Danny, and a grin spread across his face as he floated in front of Sam, his ghostly glow getting even brighter.

"Hey ugly!" he shouted up at the Lunch Lady. She looked down as Danny fired an ectoplasmic ray at her. "Eat THIS!" She screamed as her arm was blasted off, but then all the meat started to reform itself.

"FOOLISH BOY!" she shouted. "WITH THE POWER OF THE DIVINE JEWEL, I AM UNSTOPPABLE!"

"We'll see about that, you ugly hag!" he shouted as he blasted her again and again. Sam watched as the two ghosts fought, a look of awe on her face.

_He's sure powerful._ She thought. _And he's doing a good job of fighting her. Wonder what Lancer was talking about?_ Danny kept blasting the Lunch Lady again and again, as well as punching and kicking at her, but her meat body just kept reforming itself.

"He's going to need some help." Sam said, to nobody in particular. Suddenly, she noticed something on the ground next to her.

"Huh? Fenton Ghost Peeler?" she asked. "Well, it's worth a shot!" she activated the device and it covered her from head to toe, until she was in a suit of hi-tech, ghost-fighting armor.

"Hey, Ghost Boy, you might want to get out of the way!" she warned, and Danny, following her advice, moved just as she fired a large ray at the Lunch Lady. The ghostly woman screamed as all her meat was swept away, leaving her vulnerable. Danny smirked as he fired his own ray at her, and she didn't have time to make a sound as she was obliterated. The Divine Jewel fell to the ground and Sam, ditching the Ghost Peeler, ran over and picked it up.

"Wow," she said breathlessly. "We did it! We beat her!" She looked triumphantly at Danny, but was surprised to see him chuckling malevolently to himself as everyone stared worriedly at the two of them.

"Well, the old bag's out of the way." Danny said. "Now then, girl, hand over the Divine Jewel, and I won't have to practice my aim on you."

**AN:**_ Uh-oh! Looks like Sam's in trouble! What will happen? Well, some of you probably know but...review anyway! And btw, no, Sam is NOT Jazz's reincarnation or anything in this one. Also, at the suggestion of a reviewer, I have decided to make some edits so that Jazz is playing the part of Kikyo, instead of Paulina. And no, she and Danny aren't brother and sister in this story, not exactly-but they're not lovers either...just review!_


	2. The Journey Begins

**AN**: _Chapter Two, people! This is where things are explained-well, somewhat. And yeah, I know the code word is corny, but it's not like 'sit' was much better XD And yes, Danny's mom is a ghost in this story. I mean, we've already seen Jack as a ghost (remember Masters of Time?), so I think it would be interesting to have Maddie as a ghost in this reality. BTW, if anyone has any suggestions as to how I could make this story better, please, don't be afraid to let me know! Also, I've changed Danny and Sam's personalities a little bit, to make them more like they were in the cartoon, instead of being like carbon copies of Inuyasha and Kagome. And Jazz is now Kikyo, instead of Paulina._

_Disclaimer: If I owned DP, it wouldn't have been cancelled. But alas... :'(_

Sam turned around quickly and started to run, Danny floating not far behind her.

_So he's not a good guy after all._ Sam thought. _Super._ Fortunately for Sam, she was one of the most fit kids in her school, and was able to keep a good speed. However, Danny was still hot on her trail, and was beginning to charge up a ghost ray to fire at her. Before he could get the chance, however, Mr. Lancer threw something at Danny. It latched itself around his waist, and Danny frowned down at it.

"What the?" he said, fiddling with the belt-like device, and trying to get it off. "What the heck is this thing?"

"Miss Manson, quick!" Mr. Lancer shouted. "Shout out the code word to activate the Specter Deflector!"

" 'Code word' ?" Sam asked in surprise. "I don't know the…" she didn't have much time to think, however, as Danny resumed his task of charging towards her, recharging his ghost ray. Wait a second-ghost ray, ghost boy…

"Boo!" Sam shouted, before she could stop herself. It was a long shot, but it worked-Danny was zapped with energy from the belt, and fell down.

"What the hell was that?" Danny asked, pulling himself up. "It wasn't as bad as the net, but…"

"Boo!" Sam shouted out again, before she could stop herself. Once more, Danny was zapped.

* * *

><p>It was a wonder that Sam had gotten any sleep that night, considering everything she had been through. However, once her head hit the pillow on the bed of Mr. Lancer's guest bedroom, she had gone out like a light. The next morning, she once again found herself sitting with the out-of-shape man at his table as he told her about the ghost zone. This time, however, they weren't alone. Danny Phantom scowled as he hovered above the table, lying on his back in mid-air. Sam had, of course, been shocked when she saw him.<p>

_He tried to kill me!_ She thought. _What's HE doing here?_

"About 100 years ago, supernatural experts from the real world had discovered portals into the Ghost Zone." Mr. Lancer explained. "Naturally, a couple of people ventured here, and then a couple turned into many, when it was discovered that this place was fit for human habitation. Since then, we have lived, for the most part, peacefully with the ghosts. However, there are quite a few of them that hate humans, and try to drive us out…or worse." Sam gulped as she realized what he meant.

"So, we have had to develop 'anti-ghost' weapons and shields to defend ourselves against the more malevolent spirits." Mr. Lancer continued. "And I get the feeling that things are just going to get even worse now that the Divine Jewel is back in the Ghost Zone."

"This thing?" Sam asked, holding up the rectangular yellow stone.

"Yes indeed." Mr. Lancer said. "As you saw last night, it can increase a ghost's powers exponentially. However, it doesn't stop there. The jewel's powers can also be used by evil humans as well, who seek to use it for their own personal gain."

"Yeah, but none of them are going to get the chance to ever use it!" Danny smirked from above them. "Not since _I'm_ going to get it first!"

"Not a chance!" Sam said, holding the jewel close to her, and protectively out of his reach. "Why do you even want it, anyway?"

"I bet I know why." Mr. Lancer said, raising an eyebrow. "I suppose that Mr. Phantom here wants to use the Divine Jewel's power to make himself a full ghost, isn't that right?" Danny was so surprised he fell right out of the air, turning himself intangible and phasing through the table before he landed on it.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Danny demanded, immediately phasing back out of the table and floor and screaming in Lancer's face.

"Full ghost?" Sam said in confusion. "So wait…you're like a half-ghost or something?"

"That's right." Mr. Lancer said, before Danny could answer. "Mr. Phantom's father was human, and his mother was a ghost."

"Well, he _did_ seem more human than a ghost was supposed to." Sam said thoughtfully. Before she could question how a ghost could have a child with a human, or even at all, Danny yelled at Mr. Lancer again.

"How do you know about me, anyway?" Mr. Lancer sighed.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you don't recognize me." He said. "You HAVE been bound to that tree for 10 years, after all. It's me, Mr. Lancer." Danny, at this point, had climbed out of the table and turned tangible again, and was now sitting in the middle of the table, cross-legged.

"Mr. Lancer?" he blinked in surprise. "Jazz's adopted father? Wait…Jazz!" His face suddenly lit up with happiness at the thought of the human girl who been like an older sister to him. "You said I was stuck to that tree for ten years-so that means Jazz would be 24 by now. How is she?" Mr. Lancer sighed once again, except this time, it was with sadness.

"Dead." He stated bluntly. Both Danny and Sam gasped.

"D-Dead?" Danny choked out.

"Yes." Mr. Lancer said. "Shortly after she bound you to the tree, she died of injuries she had sustained." Danny suddenly looked very solemn. As Sam and Mr. Lancer watched, he got off the table and started walking to the door.

"Guess making myself a full ghost can wait." He said cryptically, before getting out of the two humans' sight.

"What was that about?" Sam asked. "No wait; don't tell me-he had the hots for this Jazz chick, didn't he?"

"Not exactly." Mr. Lancer said. "They were close, though." Despite himself, he chuckled. "They were like brother and sister, he would always get into trouble, and she would be there to help him out." He sighed sadly again, and the smile slid off his face. "I miss her terribly. I can only imagine Mr. Phantom does, too."

* * *

><p>Later, Sam walked outside the house and looked up to see Danny in a tree above her.<p>

"Oh, there you are." She said nonchalantly, then continued walking off. Danny raised an eyebrow as he watched her go.

"Where are _you_ going?" he demanded.

"Home." Sam said, as casually as if she was talking about the weather. "Mr. Lancer said that there were portals to the real world in here."

"Oh no you don't!" Danny said, floating down and landing in front of her. "Not until you give me the Divine Jewel, that is!"

"No way!" Sam said, holding it protectively out of his grasp yet again.

"Look, I just want to use it to bring Jazz back to life, okay?" Danny said, trying to convince her.

"But how do I know you won't just use it for your own selfish purposes afterward?" Sam questioned. "You also want to use its power to make yourself a full ghost, don't you? After you tried to kill me, there's no way I'm trusting you with something this powerful!"

"You're STILL holding that against me?" Danny asked in annoyed confusion. He kept trying to reach for the jewel, and eventually turned his hand intangible. Sam, realizing what he was trying to do, quickly shouted out

"Boo!" Danny let out a pained scream as he was electrocuted with the energy from the Specter Deflector.

"Damn it." He cursed through gritted teeth as Sam walked off with her nose in the air.

"Who does he think he is?" Sam said to no one in particular as she made her way to where a portal had just opened up. (She was able to find them with the Infi-Map, which Mr. Lancer had given her.) "He insults me, attacks me, and he expects that I'll just take orders from him?" She sighed, then tucked the Divine Jewel into a pocket in her skirt. "I'd better keep this safe." She said. Before she could go any further, however, she was grabbed from behind.

"Hey!" she shouted, but was suddenly cut off by somebody placing their hand over her mouth.

* * *

><p>Danny, meanwhile, was still sulking.<p>

"Damn girl." He muttered. "Damn that old man, too! Why did he have to go and put this stupid belt on me?" He grabbed helplessly at the belt, trying to wrench it off, with no luck, and let out a roar of frustration.

"I HATE HUMANS!" he shouted to no one in particular. Soon after saying that, he immediately thought of his human father, and his anger turned to sadness. Jack Fenton may have been a goof, but he was a good father all the same, and Danny always went to him when he was having trouble, especially when the other kids were teasing him about being half-ghost. He died when Danny was very little. And then, there was Jazz. Danny sighed sadly as the memories of her kind words and warm embraces flooded back to his mind.

"And all the humans I've actually loved had to go and die." He said sadly to himself. "But I am at least going to bring ONE of them back. I _will_ resurrect you, Jazz." Danny suddenly stiffened as a trail of bright blue smoke issued from his mouth. His Ghost Sense. There was a ghost somewhere nearby. Putting his sad thoughts aside, Danny flew off.

* * *

><p>Sam groaned in anger as she was tossed roughly to the floor of the building she had been brought to. She glared up at her captors-a bunch of men with white suits and sunglasses.<p>

"Who are you people?" she demanded angrily. "And why did you kidnap me?"

"I'm afraid we're not authorized to answer your questions." One of them answered quickly. Suddenly, another of the goons stepped out of the shadows. He was a couple inches taller than all the others, had tan/mocha-colored skin, and unlike all the other men, who were bald, he actually had a stripe of black hair on his head.

"Ah, there you are, sir." One of the generic agents said. "We brought the girl, as you requested." The man pointed a finger at Sam.

"You, there!" he said, and Sam had to raise an eyebrow. His voice was much older-sounding than it had to be for a man his age.

"You have the Divine Jewel! Give me the Divine Jewel!" Soon after saying this, he started staggering towards Sam, grabbing a weapon off the wall.

"Sir, what are you doing?" another one of the agents asked, and Sam could tell that he was trying not to sound disrespectful. "We only use those weapons on ghosts." But the man either didn't hear, or pretended not to hear, for he just started firing. And not just at Sam, either. He was shooting around like a madman, not caring who he hit.

_There's something wrong with this guy. _Sam thought as she started running with the rest of the agents. _He's acting really weird. And he mentioned wanting the Divine Jewel…_ She scowled as she watched the 'Guys in White' as she had decided to call them, running for their lives.

"What are you guys doing?" she demanded. "There's TONS of weapons here, why don't you grab some and defend yourselves?"

"We can't shoot him, he's our boss!" a black guy said.

"Yeah-how do you think that will look on our retirement plans?" another man asked, and Sam rolled her eyes. Before long, she and the Guys in White had made it outside, followed closely by the boss.

"The Divine Jewel!" he kept shouting. "Give me the Divine Jewel!" Suddenly, he was blasted by a green energy beam.

"Danny Phantom!" Sam shouted, as she watched Danny descend downwards from above them. Danny glowered at the man as he pulled himself back up.

"You're a tough man." He said. "Or _are_ you?" He blasted another ray at the man and, as Sam watched, an elderly, vulture-like ghost was expelled from his body.

"Just as I thought." The half-ghost said. "He was being possessed by that _old buzzard_." He smirked at his own joke, and the vulture flew down to grab the Divine Jewel, which Sam had just noticed fell out of her pocket while she was running-and swallowed it. It flew into the sky, growing bigger and more monstrous as it flew. The Guys in White, shaking in terror, ran off.

_My heroes._ Sam thought sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Damn it!" Danny swore as he started to fly off to fight the monster vulture. "Why couldn't you have held onto that thing better?"

"Like it was MY fault I got kidnapped!" Sam snapped back defensively. She ran back inside the Guys in White's base, to see if there were any useful weapons she could use. Finally, she found one-a multi-purpose blaster.

"This'll do." She said.

Danny, meanwhile, was flying up to the vulture, and blasted one of his energy rays into its eye. It screeched in pain and anger, and glared at Danny out of its good eye.

"You have something that I want." Danny said threateningly. "Cough it up and I'll go easy on you." The vulture laughed evilly, which was then followed by a wheezing cough.

"_YOU'RE IN NO POSITION TO THREATEN ME, YOU YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPER!_" It said. "_THE POWER OF THE DIVINE JEWEL IS MINE NOW!_" It breathed out a wave of ectoplasmic energy at Danny, and he flew through the air, letting out a cry until he hit a tree. He then started to fall down, but the vulture caught him in its talons, squeezing him.

"_AND WHAT CAN YOU, A MERE HALF-GHOST, HOPE TO DO?_" The vulture then let out another pained cry as its foot was blasted off. Danny phased through the foot as it was falling, and looked down at Sam, who was holding the blaster. The vulture, furious, started to lunge down towards her.

"What are you doing, you idiot?" Danny shouted, not knowing why he suddenly cared if Sam got hurt. Sam didn't answer. Instead, she waited until the vulture got a little closer-then fired. Surprisingly, there wasn't a gory mess left behind as the ghost vulture was blown up, however, both Sam and Danny _did _notice a bright yellow glow in the sky. The Divine Jewel shattered and, as the two teens watched, its pieces flew all over the sky, spreading in all different directions, to different parts of the Ghost Zone. One single, small shard fell at Sam's feet, and she picked it up and looked at it, her heart sinking as she realized what she had done.

"What? Did? You? DO?" Danny demanded as he floated down to Sam and stared in horror at the tiny silver of jewel in her fingers.

"Um…" Sam said, unable to finish.

**AN:**_ Oh boy. Now things are gonna get interesting. Also, yes, I know the Guys in White acted OOC towards the end, but I figured that if I made them stick around to fight, the chapter would've dragged on longer than I wanted. Also, it was funny XD Review please!_


	3. Home Again

**AN**: _Chapter Three is here, people! Hope you enjoy! By the way, I notice that some of you are wondering why I changed Kikyo's role from Paulina to Jazz. Well, as one reviewer pointed out, it's because a shallow girl like Paulina wouldn't be up to the task of defending the town from ghosts. Plus, I wanted to put Jazz in the story somehow, and I can't imagine her in Sesshomaru's spot..._

_Disclaimer: I own neither DP nor Inuyasha and, unless I somehow acquire a time machine, go to the past, and create both series before Butch Hartman or Rumiko Takahashi, I never will. _

After the whole fiasco with the ghost vulture, Sam found herself in Mr. Lancer's house for the third time. Danny was floating angrily above the table, wondering if he would be able to blast Sam with his ghost ray before she had time to zap him with the Specter Deflector.

He was absolutely _furious_ at her for shattering the Divine Jewel. He was so close to achieving its power-if only he had it-if only he could've seen Jazz's face again…

"Well, this is a problem." Mr. Lancer said after Sam told him the story. "Now that there are multiple shards of the jewel all over the Ghost Zone, they could be used by many evil ghosts for who knows what."

"Yeah, and all _we've_ got is one lousy little shard." Danny spat. "Thanks a lot, Goth Girl." Sam glowered at him.

"First of all, my name isn't 'Goth Girl', it's Sam!" Sam retaliated. "Second, if I hadn't done _something_, you'd have been killed. So you're welcome-FOR SAVING YOUR LIFE!"

"I would've found a way out." Danny shrugged.

"Well, it doesn't matter what happened, or whose fault it is." Mr. Lancer said. "What's important is that you two must find all the shards of the jewel before they fall into the wrong hands."

"Wait a second-us TWO?" Danny asked, turned around in mid-air to stare at Mr. Lancer. "I can understand why _I_ need to find the jewel shards-but HER? What good is she? It's not like she can detect them, or anything!"

"Actually, she can." Mr. Lancer said. "I believe the shards of the Divine Jewel are drawn towards each other, so as long as Sam has at least one, she CAN sense the jewel shards. Plus, she can keep you in line."

"Keep _me_ in line?" Danny asked angrily. "_She's _the one who shattered the jewel!" Finally, Sam could take it no more.

"BOO!" she shouted loudly, and Danny fell down, landing on the table, as the Specter Deflector zapped him painfully.

"WOULD YOU QUIT DOING THAT?" He yelled as Sam got up and left, not bothering to say goodbye to Mr. Lancer.

"You certainly have a way with the ladies." Mr. Lancer said sarcastically.

"Shut up." Danny growled back at him.

Outside, Sam had once again pulled out the Infi-Map to look for a way back home.

_I know I have to look for the shards of the Divine Jewel,_ she thought, _but I just want to go home first, to let my family know I'm okay. _

"Ah, this one's close!" she said, looking at a portal that the map showed. Just as she was walking in the direction it was in, she heard a female voice behind her ask

"And just where do you think _you're_ going?" Sam turned around, and saw the ghost of a girl behind her. She had blue fire for hair, dark makeup, was carrying a guitar, and had a 'punk rock' vibe about her.

"Who are you?" Sam asked in alarm and fear.

"Name's Ember." The girl answered. "A little birdy told me that you have the Divine Jewel. So here's the deal-hand it over, and I WON'T have to rock your world." Sam smirked.

"Hate to break it to you Gene Simmons, but I only have a small piece of the jewel." She held up the shard she had, and Ember gasped in shock.

"You _broke_ it?" she said, mortified. "Well, I guess you leave me no choice, then." She strummed on her guitar strings, and the music converted into pure energy, which zoomed towards Sam in the form of a fist. Sam, however, quickly moved out of the way of the energy fist, and pulled out the blaster she had gotten from the Guys in White, and started shooting at Ember. Ember, however, was just as fast, if not more so. She hopped on her guitar and flew towards Sam angrily, forcing her to run as she continued shooting. Despite herself, Ember smirked.

"You're pretty good-for a human. Unfortunately, I'm a one-woman act!" Saying this, she hopped off her guitar and grabbed it in mid-air, strumming the strings, and sending out another wave of energy. This time, though, it caught Sam, sending her flying backwards, and down a nearby ditch. Ember scowled as she heard Sam's scream.

"Oh pooh." She said. "I was hoping that I could at least get her shard of the jewel." She then shrugged with an evil smile. "Oh well, plenty more where that came from!"

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Ember's attack had sent Sam right into the very portal she was trying to get to. After about a second or two, she came flying out of the very alley the first portal had appeared in.<p>

"Sam!" she heard her mom's frantic voice calling. "Sam!"

"Look!" Harold said, pointing to where Sam was lying.

"Oh, Sammykins!" Stella said, running to where her daughter was and pulling her up.

"Are you alright, Sugar Muffin?" her dad asked as his wife started dusting Sam off.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sam said. She quickly checked to make sure that she had both the Infi-Map and jewel shard with her, then putting them away, turned back to her parents.

"Where have you been?" Stella asked, her concern turning to anger all of a sudden. "We were worried SICK!"

"You'll never believe me if I tell you." Sam said.

"Oh yeah?" Harold said, going to stand beside his wife. "Try us!" Sam shifted her eyes nervously. She knew that this wasn't going to be an easy feat.

* * *

><p>Back in the Ghost Zone, Mr. Lancer was tending to some things at home when a woman ran into his house.<p>

"Mr. Lancer!" she said frantically. "My daughter is very sick! I believe that some ghost is involved!"

"Calm yourself." He said. "Let me see her." He followed the woman to her house (which turned out to be only a block or two away,) and into her daughter's bedroom. The girl, a blonde teenager of fourteen years, was indeed lying in her bed, eyes shut tight. Mr. Lancer leaned over the girl, putting his hand on her forehead.

"She doesn't seem to have a fever." He remarked. Outside, Ember stood on top of a building, holding her guitar.

"Well, I believe I've kept the folks in suspense long enough." She said. She strummed her guitar strings, and her evil musical energy spread across a 5-foot radius of the city. Star opened her eyes, which were now glowing red. Both her mom and Mr. Lancer gasped. With surprising agility, she jumped out of her bed and attacked Mr. Lancer.

"A Clockwork Orange, get off me, girl!" he shouted, trying to defend himself. He was tempted to pull out a weapon, but Star, after all, was just a teenage girl, who was under control by some evil force. He couldn't bring himself to harm a human. So instead, he ran downstairs, outside, only to be met with even more brainwashed teenagers. All of them growling, eyes blazing in anger, they surrounded Mr. Lancer. However, before they could attack, Danny Phantom flew down.

"I saw everything from here." Danny said. "You alright, Old Man?" Deciding to ignore Danny's insult, Mr. Lancer nodded.

"Try not to hurt them." He said. "They're only children. Something is controlling them."

"Seriously?" Danny asked angrily. "How do you expect me to survive if I don't fight back?" Shortly after saying this, he turned intangible as some of the kids jumped at him. Mr. Lancer, however, wasn't so fortunate. A bunch of the kids started beating him up. And they WEREN'T going easy on him either.

"Old Man!" Danny shouted. Turning intangible to avoid getting attacked himself, he flew over to Mr. Lancer and got him out of the crowd. He looked the worse for wear, with a black eye, lots of bruises and scratches, and a cut lip. Despite himself, Danny grimaced.

"You look like shit." He remarked. Mr. Lancer scowled at him.

"Danny-you need to find Sam." He gasped weakly.

"What?" Danny asked in disbelief.

"If the ghost that is controlling these children has a jewel shard, she'll be able to detect it." He said.

"But how do you expect me to find her?" Danny asked.

"Over there." Mr. Lancer said, pointing to a portal in the ditch that Sam had fallen into.

"Alright." Danny said, nodding. He put Mr. Lancer on top of a building, and said

"I'll bring that girl back here, and we'll fix this. And I'll TRY not to forget to come back and rescue you." He added with a smirk.

"Ha ha, very funny." Mr. Lancer said sarcastically. "Now go, Mr. Phantom! Go!" Without another word to Mr. Lancer, Danny turned and flew towards the portal.

**Yeah, it ends kinda abruptly I know, sorry about that. Anyway-review!**


	4. Danny vs Ember

**AN**: _Chapter Four! This is where Danny and Sam's search for all the jewel shards officially starts-well, after Danny fights Ember, of course. Read, enjoy, and of course, review! Oh, and also, thanks to **BaileyMermaid95** for editing this chapter!_

_Disclaimer: If I owned either Danny Phantom or Inuyasha, then there wouldn't really be any reason for me to write a fanfic now, would there?_

"Do you seriously expect us to believe that?"

Sam sighed. She knew that this was coming. It had been an hour and a half since she had gotten home and, after a quick shower, she had told her parents about her adventures in the Ghost Zone, and Danny Phantom, and the Divine Jewel. Stella turned towards Whoopi accusingly.

"Now do you see where your ghost stories have gotten her?" she demanded. "Now Sam is lying to us about…" Finally, Sam could take it no longer.

"It's _not_ a lie!" she said. "All that stuff really happened! Look, I have a shard of the jewel to prove it!" she pulled out the jewel shard, and showed it to her parents. Whoopi gasped.

"The Divine Jewel." She said. "That-is that really a shard of the Divine Jewel?"

"Oh, not again Mother!" Mr. Manson said in exasperation. "Don't you think…" He didn't get the chance to finish. The door swung open, and Danny Phantom stood there.

"Stupid girl!" he said. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"This is my home, a," Sam said "and b, I'm NOT stupid! What are _you_ doing here, anyway?"

"The old man's in trouble!" Danny said, walking over to Sam. "We have to go NOW!" he grabbed her wrist and started to drag her away.

"Hold on just a second!" Mrs. Manson said, walking over to Danny. "I don't know who you think you are, or where you think you're going with my daughter, but I won't have it! And aren't you a little young to have white hair?" she added this last part as an afterthought, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Danny's hair. Danny growled impatiently.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" he said. "LET'S _GO_!" Then, as Sam's parents and Grandma watched, he phased through the door while still holding Sam. Both her parents blinked in surprise.

"D-Did you see that?" Mr. Manson asked in shock.

"Ha! Told you ghosts were real!" Whoopi boasted.

* * *

><p>"Hold on!" Sam said, once she and Danny were outside and walking away from her house. "I need to pack!"<p>

"Pack?" Danny repeated, looking at Sam as if he thought she was insane.

"Yes!" Sam said. "If I'm going to the Ghost Zone to fight evil ghosts and collect jewel shards, I'm going to need supplies!"

"Fine." Danny said begrudgingly. He flew Sam up to her room, where she pulled out a large, old schoolbag, and started filling it with clothes, snacks, a first aid kit, and other essentials.

"Done." She finally announced.

"Took you long enough." Danny complained. Sam glared at him, but said nothing as he took her by the hand and flew over the city with her.

"You have the Infi-Map, right?" Danny asked. "Where's the closest portal?"

"About…" Sam began, looking at the Infi-Map, until she saw a portal open in a billboard next to them. "There!" Danny and Sam flew inside, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

* * *

><p>Somewhere in the Ghost Zone, Ember tuned her guitar while sitting down in a chair.<p>

Ah, the utter devotion and admiration of teenage fans-but it's still not enough." She pouted. "If I had the Divine Jewel, I could enough power to control whole armies." She scowled. "Too bad that girl shattered it. But now that I have literally won over the hearts and minds of those teenage humans, it'll be even easier to find the shards." She laughed.

* * *

><p>Danny and Sam entered the Ghost Zone via another portal.<p>

"Um-Goth Girl?" Danny asked.

"It's _Sam_." Sam said, irritated.

"Whatever." Danny said, rolling his eyes. "Not that it's any of my business or anything, but don't you think you should've said goodbye to your family? You're not gonna be seeing them for a while you know." Sam snorted.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked. "I'm GLAD to be away from them! Well, my parents, anyway-my grandma's fine." She added as an afterthought. "But my parents-I'm just happy I won't have to put up with them for a while!" She smiled, and Danny just stared at her.

He couldn't understand why anyone would want to be away from their parents. He himself hadn't known his own parents that much. His dad had died when he was little, and he never knew his mom. He had to grow up, for the most part, alone. He would gladly have traded places with Sam, if it meant getting to know the love of both of his parents.

Before either of them could take a step, however, they soon found themselves surrounded by Ember's army of brainwashed teenagers.

"Damn!" Danny swore as they started to attack him.

"Danny!" Sam shouted, but before she had time to pull out her blaster, she too was grabbed. The teenagers held Danny down as Ember appeared in front of them.

"Hey, you're kinda cute." She said, looking down at Danny. "It's too bad I have to kill you. We could've made beautiful music together." Sam gasped.

_It's her!_ She thought. _The girl from earlier!_

"Oh well." Ember said. "Such is life." She strummed her guitar strings, and the teenagers started piling on top of Danny, choking and suffocating him. Suddenly, in just one moment, all the teens fell down on top of each other. Ember's eyes widened.

"_What?_" she asked. Danny suddenly phased out of the ground in front of her.

"Um, duh." He said. He tried to punch her, but she jumped out of the way and, wielding her guitar as a weapon, jumped down at him. Danny dodged and Sam just stood helplessly watching the two ghosts. She tried to wrestle out of the teens' grip, but they refused to budge.

_I understand the whole 'brainwashed' thing, but how the hell does that make them super strong?_ Danny shot an ecto-blast at Ember, and she just blocked it with her guitar and laughed.

"Nice try, dipstick." She says. "You think you, a mere half-ghost, can defeat me?" she laughed again, and Danny blasted at her again. This time, however, his blast succeeded in shooting her arm clean off. Ember closed her eyes, gritting her teeth in pain.

"Ha! Not so tough now, are you?" Danny asked. To his surprise, however, Ember just laughed.

"Actually…" as Danny watched, her arm grew back from ectoplasm. "Yeah, I am." She strummed her guitar again, and the force of the music blew Danny back.

"She's so strong," Sam said. "Could she have a shard of the Divine Jewel?" she furrowed her eyebrows. "No-that's not it. So then, what's making her so powerful?" She then suddenly gasped as she came to a realization. "It's her victims! She gets stronger with the more kids she controls! Danny!" she shouted, "You have to destroy her guitar!"

"Of course!" Danny shouted. He blasted Ember again, and she was thrown into a tree.

"No, no, NO!" Ember shouted as she gritted her teeth, seething in anger.

"I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED SO EASILY!" she shouted. She made to strum her guitar again, but Danny was quicker.

"You might want to cover your ears." He said to Sam. As she complied, he took a deep breath, and then screamed. However, it wasn't just any ordinary scream. Powerful sound waves emitted from his mouth in what could only be described as a ghostly wail. The attack was so powerful that Ember's guitar was destroyed.

"No!" she shouted. "NOOOOOOO!" As Sam watched, Ember faded into nothingness. Immediately, all the kids she had controlled went back to normal.

"Hey, where am I?" one kid asked.

"Wh-What were we doing?" a girl asked. Sam walked over to Danny.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah." Danny grunted, getting up. "I always get a little weak after using that attack." He looked away, refusing to meet her eyes. "And, um, I guess I couldn't have done it without you." Sam smiled, knowing automatically that this was the closest thing she was going to get to a thank you.

"You're welcome." She said. "If we're going to find all the jewel shards, we're gonna have to stick together." Danny just kept on looking ahead and said nothing.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Mr. Lancer was still waiting on top of the building where Danny had left him.<p>

"Danny Phantom." He said. "Only by working together with Sam can you both hope to find the shards of the Divine Jewel. Trust in each other, and never lose sight of your goal. Also…" he began in an annoyed tone, "Don't you dare forget to get me down from here!"

**AN**:_ Heh heh, I couldn't resist. Don't worry Lancer, Danny will come back for you-sooner or later. XD Anyway, the next chapter is where the story is going to start to deviate a little from the original Inuyasha series: no Sesshomaru stand-in character. Now, before you start moaning, listen to my reasoning-a) Jazz is already playing the part of Kikyo, and I just CAN'T imagine her being like Sesshomaru, b) I can't think of anyone else for the part, and c) I don't want the series to be TOO much like Inuyasha. But please, review anyway!_


	5. A New Arrival to the Team

**AN**: _So, as promised, I'm skipping right ahead in the story to Shippo's introduction. I mean, uh-well, you'll see what I mean :-) Along with a couple other familiar faces. Oh yeah, and there might be some OOCness in this chappie. _

_Disclaimer: Used up all my creativity writing this chapter, so I'm just gonna say-Don't own it, never will. _

Sam panted heavily as she ran, holding her blaster steady. She shot a couple times at the giant cockroach-like ghost chasing her, but the blasts didn't seem to affect it any.

_Go figure_. Sam thought. _It DOES have a shard of the Divine Jewel, after all._ Danny, meanwhile, was flying next to her, blasting at the cockroach himself. Sam gasped as she saw a glint on top of it.

"Danny!" she shouted. "There! On it's back!"

"I see it." Danny said. "You distract it, I'll get the jewel shard!" Sam aimed a blast at its feet, and the grotesque monster let out an angry hiss. Danny landed on its back, and pulled out the jewel shard.

"Got what we came here for." He said. "Now then…" soon after saying this, he fired a blast at the cockroach, and it hissed again as it exploded. Danny was able to avoid the flying goo by turning intangible, and Sam just got out of the way.

"Well," Danny panted, floating down to Sam, "That's two jewel shards now."

"Great." Sam said, taking the shard from Danny and putting it in the small jar she had brought with the other three shards they had. "Now, how about we head back to town for a little R&R?"

"If you say so," Danny shrugged, and he continued to fly high above Sam while she had to stick to walking. Sam glared at him.

_I like exercise as much as the next person, but seriously, not even asking me if I want a lift?_ Sighing, she shook her head and continued walking. Suddenly, Sam got a strange feeling, like someone was behind her. She turned around, but didn't see anyone. Shrugging it off, she continued walking. Before she took two steps, however, something passed by her lightning-quick, and snatched the jar with the jewel shards out of her hand.

"Danny!" Sam shouted. Coincidentally, just as Sam shouted his name, Danny's ghost sense went off. He flew down, and caught something. Or rather, some ONE.

"Hey!" the small girl shouted indignantly as Danny held her up by her collar. "Let me go!"

"Hey, she's just a kid!" Sam said in surprise. The girl scowled. She appeared to be about 12 years old, and had white hair, like Danny's, except hers was longer, and in a ponytail. She also had green eyes, and was wearing a shirt and pants that were half black and half white. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Wait a sec, are you two related?" she asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Danny asked. "I've never seen this kid before in my life!" While he wasn't looking, the girl turned intangible and phased out of his grasp.

"Hey!" Danny shouted. Turning tangible again, the girl faced the pair.

"I don't like stealing," she said, "So I'll ask you nicely. Give me your shards of the Divine Jewel."

"Or what?" Danny smirked. "You're just a kid."

"And you're just a half-ghost." The girl shot back. Danny's smile disappeared.

"Okay, that's IT!" he shouted, and started to fly towards the girl to attack her, but Sam was quicker.

"Boo!" she shouted. Right on cue, the Specter Deflector activated, and Danny fell to the ground as he was painfully zapped.

"Hold on just a second." Sam said, looking up at the girl. "Why do you want our shards?" The little girl sighed.

"My name is Danielle." She introduced herself. Sam was tempted to ask Danny if he was sure that they weren't related, but resisted the urge, instead continuing to listen to Danielle.

"My parents were killed by a ghost hunter named Skulker. I need those jewel shards so that I can become stronger, and avenge their deaths."

"I'm sorry about your parents." Sam said sincerely. "But we can't just give away our jewel shards like that." Danielle looked down sadly. And then, her face turned angry.

"I really hoped that it wouldn't have to come to this." She said. She turned invisible, and before either Danny or Sam had much time to do anything else, she stole the jewel shards out of Sam's hands and flew off.

"Hey!" Danny shouted. "Get back here with those jewel shards!" He flew after Danielle, who looked nervously behind her.

"Uh-oh." She said. "Gotta lose him!" She fired an ecto ray at Danny, which caught him off guard and sent him flying back down to the ground.

"Danny!" Sam shouted in concern, running over to him.

"Well, that's just humiliating." Danny said. "Getting my ass kicked by a little girl."

* * *

><p>A little later, Danielle had finally landed, and was looking at all the jewel shards she had scored.<p>

"Just two?" she asked, disappointed. "Well, still, I guess it's better than none." She started struggling to open the jar, gritting her teeth and furrowing her brow in concentration.

"Need some help, _runt_?" Danielle gasped as she recognized the voice. Before she even had time to turn around, however, she was grabbed by the throat, and gasped as her attacker lifted her up into the air. She found herself staring into the cold green eyes of an ecto-armor-suited ghost, with green fire for hair.

Skulker smiled evilly at his prey.

"Well well, if it isn't the offspring of those two ghosts I killed just this morning." He said. "I think you'll be happy to know that they're still together-resting at the foot of my bed!"

"You monster!" Danielle said angrily. She phased out of his grip and tried to attack him, however, Skulker was quicker. He shot an ecto-net at the small girl, which wrapped around her, and she fell to the ground. He then looked down at the jar with Sam's shards.

"What do we have here?" he asked. Leaning down, he picked up the jar.

"Ah, more jewel shards?" he asked. "With three shards, I'll be even more powerful than before. Just for that, I'll let you live."

As Danielle watched, he easily opened the jar, took out the jewel shards, and swallowed them. The power from the two additional shards added to his own flowed through him, and he seemed to get more weapons, as well as his ecto-suit getting slightly bigger. With one final, evil glance at Danielle, he flew off.

"Oh no!" Danielle said. "This is all because I stole those jewel shards from that human girl and the halfa! I've got to find them! But how do I get out of here?"

"Ooooh!" came a voice. "Beware!" A chubby, blue-skinned ghost floated in front of Danielle trying to look scary…and failing miserably.

"Hey, can you let me out of here?" Danielle asked. "This evil ghost stole some shards of the Divine Jewel from me, and now I've got to go find this half-ghost and…"

"Master Danny?" the other ghost asked, suddenly interested. "You seek the help of Master Danny Phantom?"

_Master?_ Danielle thought in disbelief, but she just stayed quiet and nodded.

"Very well, then!" the other ghost said. "I, the Box Ghost, shall help you find him!" After freeing Danielle from the net, they both flew off.

* * *

><p>Coincidentally, at that very moment, Danny and Sam were still looking around for Danielle. Well, mostly Danny, anyway. Sam sighed from below him.<p>

"Come on, Danny!" She tried to reason with him. "She could be _anywhere_ by now!"

"I don't care!" Danny said. "That little shit stole our shards! I'm not resting until I find her, get those shards back, and…give her a spanking, or something!" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"A spanking?" she said to herself. "Seriously?"

Danny's ghost sense went off all of a sudden. A ghost was nearby, AND it was powerful.

"MOVE!" he shouted down at Sam and, before she had time to do anything, he flew down towards her super fast, and moved her out of the way before she could get hit with a huge blast of energy that came flying towards her.

"Impressive." Said the armored ghost who had fired. "Your speed is incredible." As Danny just glared at him, he continued.

"I've heard of you before. The half-ghost Danny Phantom. Once I've destroyed you, it will give me great pleasure to drape your pelt over my wall."

"Ew." Sam grimaced in disgust.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Danny growled.

"Well, since you asked, I'll tell you." The larger ghost said. "I am Skulker. Know my name well, for it is the last one you will ever hear." Soon after saying this, he shot some arrows towards Danny, and he had to turn himself and Sam intangible to avoid either of them getting hit.

"He's fast." Danny said aloud.

"He must have a shard of the Divine Jewel!" Sam said. Danny flew off, and Skulker continued to fire at him. Danny fired some of his own ectoplasmic blasts back at him, however, they weren't very effective against the empowered Skulker. Sam intervened, shooting at Skulker with her blaster. Skulker just scowled at her.

"Meddlesome human!" he said. Pointing a rocket launcher at Sam, he prepared to fire, and Danny, despite himself, gaped in horror. Fortunately, just seconds before Sam got hit with Skulker's rocket, a small figure came, grabbed her, and flew away with her.

"What?" Skulker said in anger. Sam looked up, and was surprised to see that her rescuer was Danielle.

"Well well," Skulker said, smiling evilly. "It seems the little brat I captured earlier is back for more."

"Danielle, what are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"Saving your life, obviously!" Danielle said. "Plus, it's my fault that he has those jewel shards, anyway." Danny, who was right below them, didn't miss any of this.

"What?" he said. "You mean to tell me that it's OUR jewel shards he has?"

"Master Danny Phantom!" came another voice. Danny looked behind him.

"Box Ghost?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes sir!" the Box Ghost said. "It is I, the Box Ghost! I have freed the little ghost, and we have come to warn you about…" he then stopped as soon as he saw Skulker.

"Well, I guess you know already. Beware!" he shouted to no one in particular, before flying off.

"Coward!" Danny shouted angrily. "Get back here and help us fight this guy!" He then let out a cry of pain as he was pierced through the shoulder by an arrow.

"Danny!" Sam shouted. Danny moaned in pain as he reached for the arrow, to try and wrench it out of his shoulder.

"Don't try it, whelp." Skulker said. "You'll be dead before long anyway." He pointed his plasma cannon right in Danny's face and prepared to fire. Danny, however, wasn't ready to give up. He shot an ice beam at Skulker, successfully freezing his head, as well as his entire upper body. While Skulker was frozen, Danny turned his hand intangible and felt inside Skulker's ecto-skeleton.

"Got 'em!" he cried out triumphantly, as his hand closed around the jewel shards. No sooner had he said this, however, than Skulker broke free of the ice and, grabbing Danny, threw him aside. Danny let out a cry as he crashed against a tree, falling to the ground. Looking down in his hand, he realized that he had only gotten ONE of the jewel shards. Skulker stomped towards him, fury obvious on his face. Before he could get too far, however, he was hit from behind with two blasts.

"Leave him alone!" Sam shouted, blaster in hand. Skulker glared at her and Danielle.

"Hey, look!" Danielle said, pointing. Sam followed her finger to see that their attacks had left small, albeit noticeable, holes in Skulker's armor.

"Of course!" Sam said. "Danny got out one of the shards, so he's not as powerful anymore!"

"So it won't be too hard for us to beat him now!" Danny said in realization. "We just have to hit him hard enough!"

"Pity you'll never get the chance!" Skulker said, pointing weapons at all three of them. Scowling, he turned to Danny. "I _was_ going to keep your lifeless carcass as a souvenir, but I guess I will have to reduce you to a pile of ash, instead!" He blasted, relieved that these bothersome children were about to be eliminated. However, as the smoke cleared, a voice from above him called out

"Um, helllllloooooo?" Skulker gasped, realizing that the two ghosts and human were floating above him (Danielle was holding Sam again). Soon after, it turned into an all-out brawl between the three of them. Blast after blast flew, and for a while, it was uncertain who would win. Then both Danny and Danielle snuck up behind Skulker, preparing to fire ghost rays. By the time Skulker turned around, it was too late.

"This is for my parents." Danielle said, as she blasted, her ghost ray combining with Danny's to become even more powerful. Skulker's ecto-skeleton shattered into pieces and Skulker's true, frog-like form, dissolving into ectoplasm, fell among the wreckage…along with the two other jewel shards. Sam gathered all three jewel shards, as Danielle held out the small jar (which she had remembered to bring with her).

"I'm really sorry I started all of this." She apologized, staring down at her feet. "I was just too caught up with the idea of revenge to think about how much you guys needed these shards."

"That's o-" Sam started to say, but Danny cut her off.

"No shit!" he said. "We were almost killed by that guy! What do you think would have happened if an even worse ghost had gotten those shards?"

"Danny!" Sam said angrily as Danielle's eyes started to fill with tears.

"I just…" the little girl sobbed, "I just don't have anyone to take care of me anymore." Sam knelt down to Danielle's height.

"How about you come with us?" she asked.

"Huh?" Danielle asked, hardly daring to believe it.

"We could take care of you." Sam said. "And we could all look for the jewel shards together."

"Really?" Danielle asked. She looked at Danny, and he sighed, defeated.

"Fine." He said. Danielle smiled. She stood up, and followed Danny and Sam as they walked off, continuing their adventures.

"But don't think I'm gonna tuck you in at night, or anything." Danny added as an afterthought.

_That's right, the Box Ghost is the team's Myoga! XD And yes, for the sake of the story, Danielle is a full ghost in this. Sorry to any Skulker fans, btw. So, what did you think? Did I make Danny act too much like Inuyasha? By the way, does anyone know how I can edit chapters, so that I can go back to the first chapter, and change Paulina to Jazz? Thanks! Review please!_


	6. Danny's Secret

**AN**: _So, yeah, here's the next chapter. I know it's probably a bit early for the human episode, but whatever. And to those of you who think I should have had Vlad as Sesshomaru, well; I've got bigger plans for him..._

_Disclaimer: I own it like I own Westminster Abbey._

It had been a couple days since Danielle had joined Danny and Sam, and things were working out perfectly. Well, for the most part, anyway. While Sam liked the little girl and enjoyed having her around, Danny couldn't care less about whether she was around or not. But he wasn't hurting her, anyway, so that was good.

"So you humans go a place called 'school'?" Danielle asked one day during lunch.

"Yeah." Sam said. "It's mostly just kids, though. Although sometimes, when parents or other adults feel like getting educated, they go a type of school called college." Danielle listened enthusiastically while eating a ham and cheese sandwich (Sam had made ham and cheese for Danny and Danielle, but just a regular grilled cheese sandwich for herself).

"Sounds like a downer to me." Danny said, lying down on his back. "I mean, being caged up with other people all day long and having to listen to some old geezer or hag yell at you? Frankly, I'd just rather fight a hundred ghosts at once."

"Yeah, I figured you'd say something like that." Sam sighed. She was just about to reach for an apple, when suddenly, a strong gust of wind whipped through everyone's hair and clothes.

"A ghost!" Danny gasped as his ghost sense went off.

"And a shard of the Divine Jewel!" Sam said as the shards in her jar started to glow. As the three kids watched, a ghostly bat swooped down on them, screeching as green drool ran down its mouth.

"And here I thought bats only came out at night!" Sam gasped.

"Well, **you** come out at day." Danny said, earning him a glare from Sam. She pulled out her blaster and started firing at the bat, while Danny and Danielle shot it with their own ghost rays. However, the jewel shard in the bat's left wing made it super fast.

"Giiiiiive meeeeee the jewel shaaaaaaardssssssss!" the foul creature shrieked, as it dodged the two ghosts and instead went straight for Sam, grabbing her by the throat and pinning her against a tree, causing her to drop her blaster.

"Sam!" Danielle shouted, and tried to fly towards Sam to help her, however, the ghost bat turned its head and let out a high-pitched sonar wave, which caused the ghost girl to fly back, and her and Danny to writhe in pain on the ground, covering their ears and gritting their teeth together.

"Man, and I thought MY ghostly wails were hard on the ears!" Danny shouted. Opening one eye slightly, he saw the jewel shard in the thing's wing. The ghost bat stopped screeching, and turned back to Sam.

"Giiiiiive them to meeeee!" it hissed. "Giiiiiiiive them to meeeeeee!" Sam struggled weakly to get out of the monster's grip, however, it was too strong. Before it could do anything else, however, it let out a shriek of pain as its shard of the Divine Jewel was ripped from its wing. Sam looked down, and saw Danny turn visible and triumphantly hold up the jewel shard.

"THIIIIIIEFFFFFFF!" the ghost bat hissed. Fortunately, at this point, Sam had managed to slip out of its grip, and roll around on the ground until she had gotten her blaster.

"Alright everyone, all together now!" she shouted. She, Danny, and Danielle all fired their respective blasts and once, and managed to destroy the bat.

"Another ghost annihilated, another jewel shard." Danny said, tossing the shard over to Sam.

"Hello there!" All three of them turned at once to see a woman standing behind them. She appeared to be about 30, had long black hair with blue streaks in it, and was wearing a long-sleeved midnight blue shirt with black pants.

"Who the hell are you?" Danny asked, rather rudely, which caused Sam to glare at him.

"Boo!" she shouted, and Danny felt the now-familiar jolt of electricity as the Specter Deflector activated.

"Sorry about that." Sam apologized. "He doesn't have any manners at all."

"It's alright." The woman said. "My name is Luna. I saw you three fighting that horrible ghost just now, and I wondered if you could help me. You see, lately my house has become infested with bat ghosts like that one, and I need someone to get rid of them for me."

"Sorry, but we can't help you." Danny said quickly, and not sounding sorry at all.

"Danny!" Sam said angrily.

"But there are some really good ghost hunters around, perhaps you could get one of them to…"

"BOO!" Sam shouted again before Danny could finish. Over his screams of pain, Danielle turned to Luna, a sweet smile on her face, and said

"We'll gladly help." Luna smiled.

"Thanks." She said. "You're good kids."

* * *

><p>Later, as they were flying, (Luna had a car and offered to drive them, but they had refused), Sam glared angrily at Danny.<p>

"Could you _be_ any more selfish?" she asked. "The poor woman has evil ghosts living in her house, and you won't even help her?"

"Well, like I said, there ARE lots of ghost hunters around town." Danny said. "Plus, I'm not gonna be at my best tonight." He added this last part quietly to himself, but Sam heard him anyway.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing." Danny lied.

* * *

><p>Finally, about 2 ½ hours later, they all reached Luna's house, and Sam fell in love with the place almost right away. It looked like one of those old Victorian mansions.<p>

"_This_ is your _house_?" she squealed in delight. "This is so cool! This is EXACTLY the kind of place I'd want to live in!"

"You like it, huh Sam?" Danielle giggled.

"It's even better on the inside." Luna said. "Come in and see." She led them inside, and they could see right away that the woman hadn't been lying.

Every square inch had huge paintings of famous 'dark' artists, musicians and writers, there was a winding staircase, and a huge chandelier right above them. Every desk seemed to be littered with candles, and Danny could have sworn he saw a skull in one of the rooms.

"Nice place to visit, but you couldn't get me to live here." He said.

"Funny thing for a ghost to be saying." Sam teased, and Danny glared at her.

"I'll show you to some guest bedrooms." Luna offered. Sam and Danielle got to share a room, and Danny got a room across the hall from them.

"I get a room to myself?" He asked in surprise.

"Well, of course." Luna said. "You're a boy, after all. Wouldn't want you bothering these girls-if you know what I mean." She winked, and Danny fell over backwards anime-style.

"Just what kind of guy do you think I am, anyway?" he shouted in annoyance. Luna just chuckled.

"Make yourselves at home." She said. "I'll go prepare dinner."

_There's something weird about this lady._ Danny thought. _I don't know what it is, but something is just off about her._

* * *

><p>"Luna sure is nice." Danielle said to Sam a little later as they were unpacking.<p>

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "And she has a GREAT taste in designing."

"Wonder why she has all these rooms?" Danielle asked, more to herself than to Sam. Shaking the thought away, she turned back to the older girl. "I'm gonna go exploring."

"Okay." Sam said. "Just try not to break anything." Floating above the ground, Danielle phased through the door. She looked through many rooms, finding a couple bathrooms, a supply closet, and a huge library.

"Wow!" she said, her voice echoing through the halls. "I wonder how many books there are in here anyway?" She pulled one, a thick leather-back book, from the shelf, and something fell out from between the pages and fluttered to the floor.

"Huh?" Danielle asked. Putting the book back, she descended to the floor and picked up the item, which was revealed to be an old photograph. It showed a man, a woman, presumably his wife, and two small children standing in front of the house. Danielle turned the picture over. Written on the back were the words:

'To John and Jane Doe, and the kids. Congrats on the new house!

-Stu'.

"Huh?" Danielle asked, getting even more confused by the second. "This picture doesn't look too old. But who are these people? And why isn't Luna in this picture?"

Danny, meanwhile, was feeling restless. He paced back and forth in his room, looking out the window every two minutes.

_Damn it._ He thought. _Why did it have to be tonight? Man, if ghost bats really do come out tonight, like Luna said, then I'll be useless to Sam and Danielle. Maybe I should just tell them right now. That way, at least I won't feel as guilty when it actually happens._ Nodding to himself, he walked out the door and over to Sam's room, and knocked on the door.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Danny?" Sam asked. "Yeah, sure." Danny opened the door, and saw Sam sitting cross-legged on the bed, a book in her lap.

"I uh-I had something I wanted to tell you." Danny said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Yeah, what is it?" Sam asked.

"Well," Danny started, trying to figure out how to put the words together, "It's just that; it's just that tonight I…"

"Dinnertime!" Luna called from downstairs, interrupting his speech. Danny mentally swore.

"Tell me after dinner, okay?" Sam said, getting up.

"Um, okay, sure." Danny said, walking out the door.

* * *

><p>Luna had made cheese ravioli, so Sam delightfully indulged, thankful that she didn't have to beg for a meat-free substitute.<p>

"You're a good cook, Luna." She said, smiling at the woman. "This is really good."

"Thanks." Luna beamed.

"What are the odds that YOU'D be a vegetarian too?" While Sam and Luna laughed with each other, Danny and Danielle were both very quiet.

"Are you alright there, Danny?" Luna asked. "You've barely touched your food. You too, Danielle." Danielle twitched at the sound of her name, and Danny just sighed. He looked outside, at the slowly rising moon.

"I have a confession to make." He said. "I probably SHOULD have said this earlier, but…" Once again, he was cut off in the middle of his confession. This time, however, it was by the sound of hissing from outside. Everyone gasped, and Luna's eyes widened in fear.

"It's the bats!" she said.

"Chow time's over!" Sam said, getting up and grabbing her blaster. "Come on guys, let's fight those things!" Danny, Sam, and Danielle ran out the door.

"Hey Danny, why couldn't you sense the bats?" Sam asked. "Doesn't your ghost sense usually alert you when…"

"Talk later!" Danny said, as they reached outside, and he blasted a bat that swooped down in front of them. Danielle turned intangible to avoid two bats that swooped down at her, causing the winged ghosts to crash into each other. Sam blasted ghost bat after ghost bat, and gasped when she felt somebody's hand on her shoulder. She turned around, ready to fire.

"Auggghh! Please do not shoot me! I mean you no harm!" said the 'attacker'.

"Box Ghost?" Sam said in surprise, lowering her blaster. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to warn Master Danny about tonight!" the pathetic ghost said.

"Tonight?" Sam asked. "What about tonight?"

"What's going on?" Danielle asked, floating down to join them. The Box Ghost blinked in surprise.

"He didn't tell you?" he asked.

"Tell us WHAT?" Sam asked, getting annoyed. Speaking of Danny, he was still fighting some ghost bats, and suddenly stopped, letting out a gasp as he felt a change overcome him.

"It looks like you are about to find out!" The Box Ghost said. As all three of them watched, Danny floated to the ground. There was a flash of light, and two glowing rings appeared at his waist, spreading up and down his body, changing his appearance. His ghostly glow disappeared, his white hair darkened to black, and his glowing green eyes turned blue.

"He-He's human?" Sam asked in surprise.

"Yes indeed." The Box Ghost said. "For all half-ghosts, there is one night in every month where their human blood overpowers their ghost blood and they lose their powers, and become completely human. For Master Danny, his human night appears to be the night of the full moon. Beware the full moon!" Sam looked up, and saw that a full moon was indeed hanging in the sky above them.

"I've heard of people turning into werewolves during the full moon, but ghosts turning into humans? That's new." Sam said.

"That's what I kept trying to tell you earlier." Danny said, looking at Sam sadly. "I'm sorry." Before Sam could reply, however, a voice called out

"He's weak! Kill him!" Many of the bats flew towards Danny, trying to tear him to pieces as he screamed in pain.

"Danny!" Sam shouted as she ran to help him, blasting at every bat she could, until she saw Danny, injured and bloody, but very much alive. As she ran to support him, Danielle looked towards the front of the house, where the voice had come from, and saw Luna standing on the porch, her arms folded in front of her chest, an angry scowl on her face.

"Luna?" she asked, getting more scared and confused by the second.

"What's going on here?" Sam asked.

"Revenge." Luna answered venomously. "For killing my mate." Sam gasped as realization hit her.

"You're one of these bat ghosts!" she shouted.

"Yes indeed." Luna confirmed. "Two days ago, my love and I made our home here with our flock-but not before devouring the foolish humans who lived here already." Danielle gasped as she remembered the picture she had seen earlier, with the family who had unfortunately ended up as bat food.

"Disguised as humans, we were going to live here by day, and at night take our true forms and search for shards of the Divine Jewel.

"But when my beloved heard of you three, he got impatient and sought to gather your shards. I followed him-and saw you horrible children slaughter him!"

"So then you decided that you'd lure us here, attack us along with your swarm, and take our jewel shards for yourself!" Sam shouted.

"Yes!" Luna said, her eyes dancing with malicious glee. "I wasn't expecting the boy to lose his powers, though I can't say I'm complaining. After all…_that makes it so much easier for me!_" Her voice lowered to a raspy hiss, her eyes turning acidic green, and everyone, including the Box Ghost, gasped as she underwent a transformation of her own.

Large bat wings burst from Luna's back, and her body started to grow and contort, black fur streaked with blue growing out of her skin, her clothes sinking into her body, her ears growing large and pointed, her teeth becoming sharp and pointed, with two fangs protruding from her mouth, and her arms raising up to connect with her wings as clawed toes grew on her feet.

Before long, the Goth woman was replaced with yet another hissing, monstrous ghost bat.

"Well, goodbye now!" the Box Ghost said, letting out a final 'beware'. Sam just glared at him as Luna took flight, swooping towards her, Danny, and Danielle. Still balancing Danny, Sam reached for her blaster, but Danielle was quicker. Flying over Danny and Sam, she turned the both of them, along with herself, intangible and then invisible.

"_What?_" Luna said, her eyes widening in surprise. "_Where did you go? FIND THEM!_" she shouted at the other ghost bats. "_Use your __echolocation!_" The bats did as she said and let out high-pitched shrieks, unaware that the kids had retreated down to the basement. Sam had managed to find some anti-septic treatment and cleaning cloth, and was cleaning Danny's injuries.

"Are you alright?" she asked in concern, wiping his face with the cloth.

"I'm fine-except for the stinging." Danny said, cringing at the pain.

"Sorry." Sam said sheepishly.

"No-I'm sorry." Danny said, his now-blue eyes full of regret. "I really should have told you guys earlier that I would lose my powers tonight. Then maybe-we could have avoided this whole thing altogether."

"Forget it-okay?" Sam said. "It's too late now, you don't have to beat yourself up about it."

"But I DO!" Danny said, taking her hand and looking into her eyes. "You and Danielle could have been killed! And if that happened-if I had to watch somebody else I care about get killed…Sam, I just couldn't live with myself." He closed his eyes and passed out-either from weakness or pain, Sam couldn't tell. But she had other things on her mind at the moment. She blinked in confusion.

_He's showing regret? He said he cares about us? AND he said my name? It's like he's become a whole different person! Is that what happens to half-ghosts when they become fully human?_

"It's okay, Sam."

"Huh?" Sam looked up when she realized that Danielle had been speaking to her.

"They shouldn't be able to find us down here." The little ghost continued. "You can go to sleep if you want."

"Alright." Sam said, nodding. She slowly and gently slid her hand out of Danny's, and closed her eyes, allowing herself to nod off. After all, she told herself, she needed the rest.

* * *

><p>Some hours later, Sam couldn't tell how many, she was woken with a jolt. Danny and Danielle woke up too. The basement door was flung open, and Luna stuck her face in the entrance, shrieking. Danielle screamed and Sam got up quickly, grabbing her blaster and running towards the monster.<p>

"Sam, no!" Danny shouted.

"Don't worry about me, Danny!" Sam shouted. "I'll just reset the blaster's power to…" before she could finish, Luna's winged hand broke through the ceiling, knocking her aside and causing the jar with the jewel shards to fall out of her skirt pocket, falling on the ground and shattering.

"Sam!" Danny and Danielle shouted in unison. Her eyes dancing greedily, Luna swiped up the jewel shards that lay on the floor and gulped them down.

"NOOOOOOO!" Sam shouted. But it was already too late. Luna grew even larger, breaking through the floor, and an extra pair of wings grew out of her back. Her teeth jutted out of her mouth in all sorts of angles, and two extra eyes appeared above her first two.

"And I thought she was ugly before." Sam quipped to no one in particular. Luna swiped at Danny, pressing him against the wall so hard that it fell apart. Danielle powered up both of her fists and flew to help Danny, but was blown back by another bat ghost's screech. Sam looked from Danielle to Danny, who was still human, injured, and weak.

_It's over._ She thought. _We're done for._

"_I'm going to enjoy peeling the flesh from your bones! Say goodbye, you weak halfa!_" Luna screeched. However, as she raised her two left arms to rip Danny apart, the sun rose over the horizon. Luna gasped and looked back at Danny as the same two glowing rings from the previous night appeared at his waist, spreading up and down, and turning him back into a half-ghost. Danny's trademark smirk appeared on his face once more.

"Think **you're** loud?" he asked. "Wait'll you get an earful of MY screaming!" Opening his mouth wide and taking a deep breath, he let out a POWERFUL ghostly wail. Luna screamed in pain and put her hands over her ears, however, it was no use. She was destroyed, as was her entire swarm. The jewel shards had fused together into one fragment in her stomach, and it fell to the ground. Danny floated to the ground and picked it up, as Sam ran over to look at him.

"That was so amazing!" she said. "I thought we were all dead, but you really pulled through there-and how are you? Are your injuries okay?"

"They'll heal fast enough, now that I've got my powers back." Danny said.

"That's good." Sam said. She ran to help Danielle, and soon enough, all three of them were back on the road again.

"Hey Danny?" Danielle asked, floating next to him, "Did you mean all that stuff you were saying earlier?"

"What stuff?" Danny asked, playing dumb.

"About not wanting to lose us." Danielle asked. Danny blushed furiously.

"Maybe I did, and maybe I didn't!" he said, embarrassed. Danielle smirked demonically.

"You're blushing!" she said. "You TOTALLY meant it!" Danny growled.

"Why you little-! Get back here!" Danielle let out a cry of alarm as he started to chase after her, and Sam just shook her head below them, a smile on her face.

_He really does care._ She thought. _Even if he likes to act like he doesn't._

_AN: What do you guys think? I'm not making Danny act too much like Inuyasha, am I? And Sam? Please let me know in your reviews!_


	7. Resurrection

**AN**: _Here's chapter 7, where...you know what, I don't think I even have to explain anything at this point. Just read and review._

_Disclaimer: I own nothing but Ignotus!_

Mr. Lancer sat inside his house, preparing dinner for himself. Just as he was starting to stir soup, the ghost alert inside his house went off.

"_Ghost Alert! Ghost Alert!_" The mechanical voice repeated, and Lancer quickly turned off the stove before grabbing his weapons and running outside.

In his backyard, a ghost with ragged clothes, pale blue skin, long grayish hair, and androgynous features floated before a grave. The name on the headstone read 'Jazzmine Lancer', and an urn with the dead girl's ashes stood next to it. A sinister smile on its face, the ghost started to reach for the urn, only to get blasted at. The ghost drew its hand back and stared at Mr. Lancer, who shouted

"Modern Prometheus! Get away from my adopted daughter's grave, you malicious spirit!" He shot at the ghost some more, but it managed to avoid every single blast from Lancer's weapon, before firing its own beam at him, knocking him to the ground, and causing him to hit his head.

"Sorry to have to be so rough." The ghost apologized in a two-toned voice that was both male and female, "But I require this girl's ashes and graveyard soil if I am to carry out my intentions." Upon saying this, it grabbed the urn with Jazz's ashes, opened it, and, taking a fistful of soil from the top of the grave, poured it inside. Mr. Lancer struggled to stay conscious as the ghost floated up to him.

"My name is Ignotus." It said. "We'll be seeing each other again soon." As it floated away, Mr. Lancer finally passed out.

* * *

><p>The next day, Danny, Sam, and Danielle went to visit the town.<p>

"So this is where you live?" Danielle asked, looking at Danny.

"Pretty much." Danny said.

"And this is where I got pulled into the Ghost Zone for the first time." Sam explained.

"I still don't see why we're coming back here." Danny said, looking at the tiny fraction of jewel that they had, which Sam was now wearing around her neck. "We haven't made much progress."

"Still, it's something, at least." Sam said. "Plus, we have to introduce him to Danielle."

Eventually, they made it to Mr. Lancer's house, and saw the middle-aged man sweeping his porch. They also noticed right away that he had a bandage wrapped around his head. Sam gasped.

"Mr. Lancer, what happened?" she asked.

"Huh?" Mr. Lancer asked in confusion before putting a hand to his bandage. "Oh, my head? Well you see, I was attacked by a ghost last night." Everyone gasped again at this.

A few moments later, inside Mr. Lancer's house, he explained the whole story to them.

"So this Ignotus ghost took Jazz's ashes and graveyard dirt?" Sam asked. "But why?"

"Who cares _why_?" Danny exploded in anger. "The fact is it defiled her grave! Just wait 'til I find it…"

"Easy there, tough guy." Sam said, trying to calm him down. Trying to change the subject, she turned back to Mr. Lancer.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you to our new friend." She pointed at Danielle. "Mr. Lancer, this is Danielle. Danielle, Mr. Lancer."

"Hi." Danielle said, waving at Mr. Lancer. He, however, looked at her suspiciously.

"It's okay Mr. Lancer, Danielle is a good ghost." Sam tried to encourage him.

"No, it's not that." Mr. Lancer said. "It's just…are you related to Danny, by any chance?"

"No!" Danny quickly answered. "Why does everyone keep asking that?"

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Ignotus had taken Jazz's ashes and graveyard dirt to its secret cave. Opening the urn, it poured the contents into the middle of a circle of candles, which immediately lit on their own. Raising its arms, it started to recite a strange chant.<p>

_Phasmatis of orbis terrarum quod Unda , _

_Excito is virgo ex suus slumber,_

_Grant suus a validus quod validus body,_

_And a animus , sic is can servo mihi!_

Once the chant was finished, the flames shot up even higher. Through the crackling inferno, the shape of a young girl could be seen taking form. The flames died down and went out-and Ignotus smiled as it gazed on the form of Jazz. The newly resurrected young ghost hunter opened her eyes, blinking a couple times as she reentered life.

"Where am I?" she moaned. "What happened? AND WHY AM I BUTT-NAKED?" she screeched as she suddenly realized that she was completely nude. She threw her arms up to protect her modesty, then saw Ignotus floating above her.

"A ghost!" she shouted. She then raised an eyebrow. "You're some kind of stalker, aren't you?"

"Fear not, child." Ignotus said in its melodic two-toned voice. "I just brought you back to life. You've been dead for ten years."

"I know." Jazz said, suddenly getting angry as memories rushed back to her. "After he-Danny Phantom-seriously though, you got any clothes?" she asked.

"I have a suit of clothes and some weapons for you in the next tunnel." Ignotus said, and Jazz immediately stood up and ran to the tunnel. A couple minutes later, a fully-clothed Jazz walked out of the tunnel.

"Ah good, you're ready." Ignotus said. "Now let us..." It never got the chance to finish. Jazz zapped it with an ectoplasmic ray from the blaster she was holding. Overcome by the force of the weapon, Ignotus was thrown against the wall. It opened its eyes weakly as Jazz looked at it coldly, her eyes full of anger and hatred.

"Sorry, but I don't work for ghosts." she said. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go seek revenge against my ex-brother." She left without another word, leaving Ignotus behind.

* * *

><p>Danny flew around haphazardly, keeping his eyes and ears wide open. He was going to find the ghost that dared steal away Jazz's ashes, and rip it to pieces if it was the last thing he did.<p>

"I've never seen him move so fast before, even in a fight." Danielle said. "He must have really cared about Jazz, huh?"

"Yes indeed." said Mr. Lancer, who was traveling with them. "I didn't think much of my adopted daughter being with a ghost, but that never stopped her. Or him. They were always very happy when they were together." Suddenly, above them, Danny's ghost sense went off. Before he could warn the others, however, Sam gasped as something grabbed her ankle. She spun around, blaster in hand, only to find herself staring down at a badly injured ghost with androgynous features.

"Huh?" she asked, confused. Mr. Lancer, however, recognized it right away.

"That's the ghost!" he shouted. "Ignotus!" This fired Danny up right away. At an unbelievable speed, he flew down and grabbed the weakened ghost by its throat, a murderous look in his eyes.

"So you're the one, huh?" he spat. "You're the one who _defiled Jazz's grave_?" Ignotus choked and gasped for breath, and for once, Sam actually found herself feeling fear FOR a ghost. Danny actually looked like he was about to kill it.

"Hey Danny, go easy on it!" Danielle said, sounding equally as concerned. "Give it some air!"

"It's...true." Ignotus choked out. "I did steal the dead girl's ashes. My intent was to bring her back to life and have her serve me." Danny loosened his grip on Ignotus' throat slightly, and it continued.

"However, my plans didn't work out the way I had hoped. Jazzmine was resurrected-but she's very angry. After blasting me, she hurried off, completely armed. Her soul is contaminated with hatred."

"Hatred?" Danny asked. "But wh-" Before he could finish, he was blasted with ectoplasmic goo.

"Danny!" Sam said in concern. She, Danielle, and Mr. Lancer then turned, gasping in horror as they saw who had fired.

Jazz was wearing the same form-fitting sky blue jumpsuit she had been wearing when her body was incinerated, and she looked just as beautiful as Mr. Lancer remembered her, with her peach-colored skin, red hair, and turquoise eyes. However, her face was set in a furious scowl, and her eyes burned with anger.

"J-Jazz!" Danny said, unable to believe what he was seeing. Standing up, he started to move towards the girl, only to be shot at again, this time by arrows. Fortunately, however, he managed to avoid all of them this time.

"What were you trying to do?" Jazz asked, her voice ice-cold. "Hug me and apologize? That's not going to work. Nothing you do can justify what you did to me!"

"What?" Danny asked, even more confused than ever. "Jazz, what are you saying?" As if to answer his question, Jazz suddenly doubled over in pain. Danny gasped as he saw blood seeping out of her side, darkening her jumpsuit.

"Jazz!"

"It's from where you attacked her." Mr. Lancer said with recognition.

"What?" Danny said with confusion.

"The day she died," Mr. Lancer continued, "she had a hole shot through the side of her body. From an ectoplasmic blast." Danny's eyes widened in shock as he realized what the middle-aged man was implying.

Jazz glared at Danny again, her eyes reminiscent of two circles of ice.

"You took my life," She said. "I think it just fair that I return the favor." She raised her blaster to shoot Danny. Finally, Sam could take it no more. Whipping out her own blaster, she shot Jazz's out of her hand. Jazz let out a slight scream.

"Who dares…?" she started angrily, then her eyes focused on Sam.

"Leave. Him. Alone." The Goth girl said.

"I don't much care who you are," Jazz said, "But you're going to pay for interfering in my revenge!" Taking out another blaster, she fired at Sam, who ducked and dodged, firing back.

"SINS OF THE FATHERS, STOP THIS MADNESS!" Mr. Lancer shouted. Jazz stiffened.

"That voice." She said. She turned to Mr. Lancer. "Dad?" she asked.

"Yes Jazzmine, it's me." Mr. Lancer answered. Jazz broke away from her 'murderous bitch' persona for a second as she stared at his gut. "Well, you haven't lost any weight."

"It's been 10 years since you died, Jazz." Mr. Lancer said, ignoring the insult. "Things are different now. Danny Phantom is not your enemy." Jazz stared at Mr. Lancer in surprise, then her surprise turned to anger.

"You traitor." she said icily.

"Huh?" Mr. Lancer said in surprise.

"He steals the Divine Jewel, kills me, and now you're defending him?" Jazz said angrily.

"Jazz, please, just listen to reason!" Mr. Lancer pleaded. Jazz, however, ignored him. Shoving her adopted father heartlessly out of the way, she ran towards Danny again, pulling out a lightsaber-like cane. Danny turned intangible, but this proved futile, as he was zapped with the energy from the cane. Screaming in pain, he fell to the ground, turning solid again.

"Get away from him!" Sam shouted, pointing her blaster at Jazz again.

"Sam, no!" Danny shouted. "Don't do it!"

"What?" Sam said. "Danny, she's trying to kill you!"

"But-" Danny said, unable to think of anything else to say. He couldn't find the words. Images of him and Jazz, of all the time they had spent together, flashed through his mind. How could he ever hurt her? Jazz, the one human (besides his dad) whom he had ever allowed himself to get close to? The girl who meant more to him than anything in the world? The girl who treated him like a little brother?

"Wake up, would ya? SHE WANTS TO KILL YOU!" Sam's words cut through Danny's thoughts like a knife. Gasping, he was dragged forcibly back into reality. Jazz glowered.

"I've had just about enough of you." she said to Sam. She threw some pellets towards Sam, but Danielle flew between them and her with a cry of

"Sam, look out!" All the pellets caught her full blast in the chest, and she screamed in pain.

"Danielle!" Sam shouted. She bent over the small girl as she fell to the ground, and Jazz pointed her blaster back at her.

"I usually try to avoid killing other humans," she started, "But in your case, I'll make an exception." Danny looked from Sam and Danielle to Jazz, and finally snapped back to his senses. Getting up, he flew at Jazz just as she was about to fire. Without looking, he accidentally flew them both over a cliff, but kept Jazz from falling to her death by holding her arms.

"Let go of me!" Jazz yelled angrily.

"You sure you want me to do that?" Danny asked. Jazz looked from the ground to Danny, but her expression didn't change.

"Jazz, please listen to me." Danny pleaded, giving her one last chance to redeem herself. "I didn't kill you. I would never, COULD NEVER, do anything to hurt you. Even if you don't believe me, and want to waste me, you don't have to hurt innocent people!"

"Ah, save the 'hero' stuff." Jazz said, obviously still not believing him. "I know you better than that. You don't care about anyone but yourself, especially not humans. And even if I believed that you'd turned over a new leaf, no one who gets involved with ghosts is innocent! Mark my word, I WILL get even. I don't care who I have to take down, as long as I take you down with them!" Her grip on his hands started to loosen, and Danny gasped.

"Jazz!" he shouted. No sooner had he shouted this than she fell. Danny didn't know what stopped him from catching her. Maybe he knew, somehow, that she would catch a branch from the tree below her and run off to safety. Maybe he just felt numb from everything. Either way, he flew back up to everyone else, feeling more empty than ever before.

Mr. Lancer ran over to him, his face full of worry.

"Jazzmine," he started, "Is she...?"

"She's alive." Danny said emotionlessly. "I saw her fall into a tree."

"That's good." Mr. Lancer said. "Although this abrupt change in her personality is sad."

"The Jazz you knew is no more." Ignotus said in its half-male, half-female voice. Everyone, except for Danny, turned to look at it as it smirked.

"She is now driven only by hatred. Her wrath and desire for revenge will lead her down a dark path from which there is no return. She will not listen to reason. Tears and pleading have no affect on her. She is now nothing more than a beast." Despite the fact that it was fading away, Ignotus smirked even bigger as it disappeared. Sam, who was still holding Danielle, looked from the spot Ignotus had been to Danny, who had his head down, his expression unreadable.

"Danny..." she said. Ignoring her, Danny flew off, leaving everyone, especially Sam, worried and confused.

**AN**: _That's right, Sam isn't Jazz's reincarnation or whatever, so I just had Jazz coming back to life right away. What did you think? Did I make her too heartless? BTW, for those of you who don't know, 'The Modern Prometheus' is an alternate title for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I figured it fit XD Also, the language Ignotus is speaking as it resurrects Jazz is Latin. _


	8. Enter Tucker

**AN**: _Tucker shows up! Finally the trio is complete! And yes, Bertrand is TUCKER'S friend/assistant in this fanfic, instead of Spectra's! So, a couple people suggested that I make the Fright Knight the story's equivalent of Sesshomaru. That actually IS a good idea, however, I'll have to find a clever way to introduce him into the story, since the first time Sesshy showed up in Inuyasha, he wanted to take the Tetsaga (sp?) from Inuyasha, and Danny has no need for a sword. Also, I'm not planning on making him Danny's brother XD I'll come up with something. Until then, enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: Please don't sue me! I don't own DP or Inuyasha, I swear! All I own is...actually, I don't really have a lot. I'm really the one who should be suing YOU!_

It was a quiet, peaceful night in the Ghost Zone. The moon was out, crickets were chirping, and there wasn't a sound to be heard. Suddenly, the quiet was interrupted by a sharp slapping sound that rang through the air.

A dark-skinned boy of 14 held a cane weapon of some sort in one hand, while his other hand was held up to his cheek, which was red and swollen.

"You free me from the ghost that was possessing me and then immediately hit on me?" The girl in front of him screeched. "The _nerve_ of you!"

"It was worth it." the boy said, grinning like an idiot. The girl fumed, growing angrier by the second.

"HECTOR!" she shouted in rage. A huge, growling German Shepherd stepped out of its dog house snarling, and the boy immediately had to run as it chased after him. Fortunately for him, though, it only chased him to the end of the street before turning around and running back to its mistress. The boy sighed to himself.

"Oh well," he said. "Another day, another dame."

His name was Tucker Foley. He had dark skin, black hair which he wore under a red beret, and sea foam-green eyes. Truthfully, he didn't look that different from most 14-year-old boys; but he was an exorcist. Exorcists were like most ghost hunters in the Ghost Zone, however, their specialty was freeing people who had been possessed by ghosts.

Tucker looked down at his left hand, which a scar on it. He then clenched it into a fist.

"Can't slack off now." he said. Gripping his cane weapon tighter in his other hand, he continued walking down the street.

* * *

><p>The next day, the Phantom gang was eating breakfast. Well, Sam and Danielle were eating, anyway. Danny sat in the same tree he had been since the girls found him, ignoring them and just staring up at the sky.<p>

"You think he's alright up there?" Danielle asked Sam, a concerned look on her face.

"I don't know." Sam answered honestly. "He's just seemed so...different since he fought Jazz."

"It must have been hard, having to fight someone he cared about so much." Danielle said, with more wisdom than a child her age was thought to have. "Poor guy."

Above them, Danny just kept reliving the previous day in his mind.

"_The day she died, she had a hole shot through the side of her body. From an ectoplasmic blast."_

"_You took my life. I think it just fair that I return the favor."_

_**Jazz really believes that I killed her?**_ Danny thought.

"_I usually try to avoid killing other humans. But in your case, I'll be more than happy to make an exception."_

"_You don't have to hurt innocent people!"_

"_I don't care who I have to take down, as long I take you down with them!"_

_**And she's so obsessed with getting revenge on me that she's willing to harm innocent people. Like Lancer, her own father. Not to mention Danielle. And Sam...**_

Danny sighed miserably. This was all way too much for him. Pulling himself up, he finally floated to the ground, to where Sam and Danielle were.

"Danny, are you alright?" Sam asked in concern.

"I guess." Danny said, reaching for a piece of bread. He didn't say anything more, and neither Sam or Danielle could think of anything to say to him.

_I really wish I knew how to help you, Danny._ Sam thought to herself. _But I wonder-who DID kill Jazz?_

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Tucker was walking along the road, with a short man walking beside him. The little man was dressed like a butler, but in reality, he was actually a ghost. While exorcists, like most other ghost hunters, didn't usually associate themselves with ghosts, Bertrand was a different story.<p>

A couple years back, Bertrand had been forced to work for an evil woman named Penelope Spectra, who always made him use his shape-shifting abilities to cause mayhem. However, Tucker was able to figure out that Bertrand wasn't truly evil like most other ghosts, he was just being manipulated, and, after he defeated Spectra, a grateful Bertrand decided to travel with Tucker from time to time, and help him when he needed it.

"You're sure that there are shards of the Divine Jewel here?" he asked, looking up at Tucker.

"Positive." Tucker answered. "My staff is programmed to lock in to and detect residual energy traces from the Divine Jewel. And from what I can see, there should be four shards somewhere around here-THERE!" he shouted, pointing to where Danny, Sam, and Danielle were sitting. The three of them looked up suddenly at the shout and turned around, but Tucker and Bertrand ducked into a bush before they could see them. Shrugging, they turned back around.

"But how are you going to get the jewel shards away from them?" Bertrand asked.

"That's where YOU come in." Tucker said, smiling. Bertrand sighed.

"I had to ask." he said.

* * *

><p>After breakfast, Sam stood up and put everything away.<p>

"All right, then." she said. "We should get moving. There are more jewel shards out there to..." Before she could finish, however, Danny's ghost sense went off. Before he could warn the girls, however, they too saw the ghost-a giant green hornet. Danny forgot about his doubts and questions as he flew up to attack the thing. Danielle quickly joined him, and before Sam could pitch in to help, she felt herself being grabbed from behind.

"Hey!" she shouted angrily as she turned to face her captor; Tucker.

"Sorry Miss, but I'm gonna have to take this HUGE collection of jewel shards from you now." Upon saying this, he snatched the coalesced jewel shards, which Sam was wearing around her neck on a chain, away. He then shot her a cocky grin. "You're kinda cute for a Goth chick, though. How's about sometime we...?"

"In your dreams, perv!" She moved to hit him, but Tucker was quicker. He jumped into a tree branch and took off running. Sam was tempted to pull out her blaster and start shooting, but she really didn't want to risk killing a fellow human. So instead she shouted up

"Danny! That guy just stole our jewel shards!" Danny, who, along with Danielle, had just finished beating up Bertrand, looked down at her.

"What?" he asked furiously. "Hey you! Get back here!" He flew after Tucker, his anger fueling his speed.

_Damn it!_ He thought. _He's catching up!_ _Guess it's time for me to use my secret weapon._ Turning around, he put the jewel shards in the same hand he held his cane weapon in, then drew back his left hand. As Danny watched, black energy gathered in the palm of his hand, then he threw a dark, glowing orb at Danny before he had time to move. Danny let out a scream of pain as pure agony ripped through his body. It was worse than any pain he had felt before in his life, even worse than when Jazz or Sam had electrocuted him.

_What is this power?_ Danny thought. _Not even ghosts have it-is this guy really human? _

Weakened by the pain, Danny fell to the ground. Tucker couldn't help but shudder as he looked at what he had done.

_Always hated having to do that._ He thought. _Even if that guy is a ghost. _He started to run again, but when he turned around, Danielle was floating in front of him.

"I don't know who you think you are," she started, "But you're going to pay for stealing our jewel shards and hurting my friend!" She fired a ghost ray at him, but Tucker blocked it with the anti-ghost properties of his cane.

"I don't want to hurt you!" he shouted at Danielle. "Just let me go in peace!"

"Not until you give back what you've stolen!" Danielle shouted back, flying towards him. Tucker sighed. She wasn't going to listen to reason.

"Didn't want to have to do this again." he said, pulling his left hand back. The black energy started to gather in it, then he threw an orb of it at Danielle. However, at that very moment, Sam jumped between the ghost girl and orb with a cry of

"Danielle! Look out!" Naturally, the black energy hit her square in the chest, and Sam felt agony as she had never felt before.

"Sam!" Danielle shouted as she fell to the ground, screaming like Danny had done. Tucker's eyes widened in horror.

_Damn!_ He thought. _I didn't want to hurt any humans!_ Dropping his cane, he ran over to Sam.

"Are you alright, Miss?" he asked in alarm. "I am SO sorry!" Sam was still weak, but the pain was gone. With a little help from Danielle and Tucker, she managed to pull herself up weakly. Tucker smiled in relief upon pulling her up into a sitting position.

"There we go." he said. "You'll be alright." He was then suddenly tapped on the shoulder and, turning around, was met with Danny's angry face.

"That's good, but we could get our jewel shards back now?" he demanded.

A couple minutes later, after everyone was back to normal and Tucker had given the Phantom gang back their jewel shards, he started to tell them his story.

"Exorcism kinda runs in the family." he explained, after introducing himself to the group. "See, my mom was an exorcist, and so was my grandpa before her. But then one day, something happened. My grandpa went out to fight an evil, very powerful ghost named Vlad Plasmius. Vlad was crafty and cruel, and during their fight, he seized my grandpa and injected miniature nanobots into his left hand. These nanobots gave him the ability to shoot black energy from his hand-but there was a great cause. Every year, the nanobots would continue to spread throughout his body more and more, until finally spreading throughout his whole body, killing him from the inside out. Since then, every descendant of my grandpa has been born with these nanobots in their bloodstream. My mom had it-and I have it." Danielle and Sam both gasped, and Danny just listened in silence.

_So THAT'S how he has that power._ He thought.

"I was groomed to be an exorcist since I was born, and since my mom died, I've dedicated my life to roaming the Ghost Zone, searching for Plasmius so that I can find a way to remove these nanobots from my body, and then destroy him."

"That sounds awful." Danielle shuddered. She then suddenly thought of something. "Hey, would you like to come with us?" Tucker stared at her.

"Join you guys?" He asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Danielle continued. "I mean, we're looking for all the shards of the Divine Jewel, and if Plasmius is one of the ghosts that has a shard..."

"I dunno." Tucker said. "Sounds like it might take a while. But on the other hand..." He looked at Sam, lust evident in his eyes, and she pulled her blaster out quickly.

"Yeah, you try it!" she dared him.

"Heh heh-sorry." Tucker apologized. "Since I'm not sure of how long it will be until the nanobots kill me, I always try to score a date with pretty girls." While half of Sam was flattered that he had called her pretty, she still kept her blaster out. Danny sighed and shook his head.

_This is gonna be interesting._ He thought.

**AN**: _Yeah, a bit short, I know. Sorry. The next chapter will be longer, I promise you! Also, Valerie will make her grand appearance! But then again, you probably knew that already, didn't you? Anyway, what did you think? Like it? Hate it? Please review, I can't know how well I'm doing unless you tell me! _


	9. Valerie the Ghost Hunter

**AN**: _Well, here's the next chapter! And as promised, it's longer than the last one! And yes, for the sake of the story, AJ is Valerie's little brother. So, for those of you who are familiar with Inuyasha, you're probably going to hate me for what I'm going to do to him in this chapter...but, well, just read and review, okay? _

_Disclaimer: Seriously, do I even need to say it at this point?_

Screams of humans filled the air as a large, snake-like ghost slithered towards them, its fangs dripping with venom. Loved ones held each other tightly, and friends stuck close as the ghost monster loomed threateningly over them.

"Hey, scaleface!" A voice shouted from the sky. Everybody, including the ghost, looked up, to see a red-suited person on a hover-board zoomed down towards them. Holding her bazooka in both hands, the girl shot a couple ecto-missiles at the snake, causing it to screech in pain. It shot towards her in fury, however, the girl quickly dodged, and threw some explosive discs at the monster. As it weakened, the girl pulled out an ordinary-looking thermos, screwing the cap off it, and holding it out at the ghost, the powerful energy inside sucking the ghost inside. Everyone cheered as the ghost disappeared and the ghost hunter descended to the street, putting her weapons and equipment away.

The girl then pulled off her mask, revealing a dark-skinned young girl of 14, with slightly poofy black hair, and sea-green eyes.

"Thank you so much for saving us, Miss!" one man said, his gratitude showing clearly on his face. "How can we ever repay you?"

"It was no problem." the girl, Valerie Gray, said. "It's my pleasure to save innocent people from ghosts." After more words of praise and gratitude, she put her mask back on, and zoomed off towards her home.

* * *

><p>At the Gray house, Valerie's little brother, AJ, was working on his computer when his big sister arrived out on their front lawn, changing from her ghost hunter outfit to her normal clothes with the push of a button. There was a bark, and a ghostly green dog ran to greet her.<p>

"Aw, hey there, Cujo." Valerie said, picking the puppy up and cuddling it. Despite the fact that Valerie and her family were ghost hunters, they kept a ghost puppy, which Valerie had fittingly named Cujo, as a pet. They had found the pooch destroying an old abandoned laboratory one night, however, it turned out that he was just looking for his old squeaky toy, and he turned out to be so adorable when he changed back from being a huge monster dog that Valerie couldn't bear to suck him into her thermos.

Valerie's father, Damon, ran outside to greet his daughter.

"How did it go, honey?" he asked her.

"It went great, Daddy." Valerie answered. "It was a tough fight, though." Saying this, she tossed her thermos, with the snake ghost inside, over to her dad, and he caught it.

"Amazing, Valerie." Damon said, ruffling his daughter's hair. "You make me so proud." AJ, who had come outside, looked up at his big sister with awe.

"That's really cool, Val." he said. "You're an amazing ghost hunter."

"Well, I think it's about time that you join your sister in her missions." Damon said. AJ blinked in surprise.

"Me? A Ghost Hunter?" he asked. "But I'm 10."

"Valerie was about your age when she went on her first mission." Damon said. "I think you're ready." AJ just nodded, although he wasn't so sure.

* * *

><p>Later, AJ, who had suited up to go on his first ghost-hunting mission, was looking nervously at himself in the mirror. His scared face stared back at him. His suit looked almost like a mini version of Valerie's, except bluegreen. Valerie, who was almost completely suited up, poked her head in the door.

"Ready to go, AJ?" she asked.

"I guess so." AJ answered, although he didn't sound too sure. Valerie's smile faded.

"Scared?" she asked.

"Yeah." AJ confessed. Valerie walked over to her little brother and knelt down to his height, looking into his eyes.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, ghost-hunting can be really dangerous, and pretty scary. But I have faith in you. You're my little brother, AJ. _And_ you're a smart kid." She smiled. "You'll do fine." AJ smiled up at her.

"Thanks, Val." he said gratefully.

Just then, the siblings' touching moment was brought to a screeching halt as they heard their father shouting from downstairs. Gasping, brother and sister both pulled on their masks and flew out the window on their hover-boards. They flew outside just in time to see their dad in his own suit, firing blast after blast at a white-haired ghost, who, Valerie noticed, had the appearance of a teenage boy. Most of the people in the Gray's neighborhood were ghost hunters too, so their neighbors were all beginning to pull out their weapons, and going inside their houses to suit up, or grab even more weapons. A blonde lady who lived across the street from Damon and his children pulled out a specialized blaster that shot lightning, and started shooting towards the boy. He was too fast for her, though, and dodged out of the way of every bolt. When he finally reached the woman, he charged up an ecto-blast in his hand, and shot her square in the chest. She was dead long before she hit the side of her house. AJ gasped in fear as he watched the malicious ghost continue to slaughter his friends and neighbors. His father and sister, however, charged right towards it. Before they could reach the ghost, however, he turned invisible.

"What?" Valerie asked in surprise. She activated a special feature in her mask to detect the ghost's ecto-signature and find him. What she didn't realize, however, is that the ghost was floating right behind her younger brother. AJ, sensing that something was wrong, turned around and, to his horror, saw the ghost boy. Shaking, he reached for one of his blasters, but before he could fire back, the ghost turned intangible and phased inside him. AJ screamed as the ghost started to take control of his body.

"AJ? What's wrong?" Valerie asked, turning around to face him. AJ didn't answer her. Instead, he held up his ecto-grenade missile launcher-and shot every single one of the projectiles at his dad.

"DADDY!" Valerie screamed in horror and shock. She looked back at her little brother-and gasped as she saw the spectral energy now flowing around him. AJ, she realized, was being possessed by the ghost. She was sure that he, or it, or whatever, was wearing a smirk on his face as he shot an arrow at her from the crossbow in AJ's suit. Valerie screamed in pain as the bladed tip penetrated her flesh, protruding through to the other side, and, despite herself, dropped down to one knee. Evidently satisfied with the destruction and bloodshed he had caused, the ghost left AJ's body.

"Valerie?" the 10-year-old asked as he went back to normal. He gasped as he saw his sister in pain, as well as the dead bodies. "What happened?" he asked, his fear growing every second. "Valerie-did I do this? I-I'm so sorry!" He buried his face in his hands, and heard the ghost whispering in his ear

"No need to cry over all your friends. You'll be joining them soon enough!" Smiling evilly, the ghost put both his hands together-and fired a very powerful beam at AJ.

"AJ!" Valerie screamed as she watched her little brother fly through the air, hitting a wall. She started to go after him, but her body had become too weak. Finally, she fell to the ground, her hover-board and suit retracting back into her watch, leaving her in normal clothes, helpless before the ghost. He flew down to face her, an evil smile on his face.

"Don't even think about trying to get away." he said, his green eyes flashing with sadistic glee. "Look at you. You're practically dead already. But in the last few minutes before you die, I just want you to know the name of the ghost who caused all this destruction." An evil smirk crossed his features.

"Danny Phantom." Valerie just stared after him helplessly as he flew off.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Danny, Tucker, and Danielle were waiting for Sam to come back to the Ghost Zone.<p>

"You sure she's coming HERE?" Tucker asked.

"Positive." Danny said. "Jazz's old man lives near here, and there's supposed to be a portal opening right about-now." As Danny said this last word, a portal appeared, and Sam stepped out of it.

"Hey guys." she greeted her friends.

"Sam!" Danielle said happily, flying forward to hug the older girl, whom she had come to love like a sister.

Sam hugged her back, then turned to the boys.

"So, um, uh, how was your trip back to the Human World?" Danny asked. Sam knew that he was trying to sound like he was not interested-and failing miserably.

"Uneventful." she answered. "My parents still have a giant 10-foot pole stuck up their asses." Danielle laughed at this, but Tucker just raised an eyebrow.

"But I _did_ get you guys some presents." Sam finished. She turned to Danielle, and gave her what looked like a goody bag from a kid's party. "I brought you back some candy, Danielle." The ghost girl beamed happily.

"Thanks, Sam!" she said gratefully. Sam then turned to Tucker.

"I picked _you_ up some swimsuit magazines." The exorcist looked at one magazine, and his eyes bulged as he stared at the provocative images.

"Sweet! Thanks!" he said, and Sam was surprised he didn't immediately get a nosebleed.

"And as for you, Danny, I got you those Nasty Burgers you like." Danny grinned as he stared at the sandwich in Sam's hand. She gagged as she saw him start to scarf it down.

"You're welcome." she said, rolling her eyes. Danny stopped eating abruptly, however, when his ghost sense went off. Putting away the rest of the burger, he prepared himself to fight. Not a moment too soon, as a giant, drooling ghost dog appeared growling in front of the team.

"Alright guys, ready for this?" he asked as he powered his fists up to shoot ecto-blasts. Danielle and Tucker powered their fists up too, and Sam pulled out her blaster as they prepared to fight.

"Wait!" a voice suddenly called, breaking them all out of their 'battle stances'.

"Box Ghost?" Sam said as she watched the chubby, pathetic ghost descend from above them.

"It's alright, Master Danny." the Box Ghost said. "Cujo is from a town close to here. His family, as well as most of the people in their neighborhood, were killed by a ghost."

"What?" Danielle said in horror, as 'Cujo' shrank down into a tiny, cute little puppy. "That's horrible!"

"Who did it?" Tucker asked.

"That's just the thing." Box Ghost said. "People have been saying that the murderer looks like Master Danny."

"That's impossible!" Sam said.

"Danny's been with us all morning!" Tucker added. Box Ghost shrugged.

"I dunno, I'm just repeating what I heard." he said. "BEWARE POPULAR RUMOR!" Danny gritted his teeth angrily.

"First I'm blamed for Jazz's murder, and now slaughtering a whole neighborhood?" he asked. "Okay, I'm mad. Let's get to the bottom of this, guys!" Danny, Danielle, and the Box Ghost flew off, while Tucker, Sam, and Cujo followed after them on foot.

* * *

><p>Valerie, who had miraculously survived 'Danny's' attack, was dragging herself along the ground, struggling to stay alive as long as possible.<p>

"I-I can't die..." she grunted to herself. "I've got to find-that ghost." Every single cell in her body was screaming for her to stop, but Valerie refused to die.

"You poor girl." a man said. "You look like you're about to die." Valerie looked up. The man above her appeared to be in his forties at least, and had long white hair, which was pulled back in a ponytail, and a short, neatly-trimmed white beard. He wore a black suit, and altogether had the appearance of a billionaire. And yet, here he was, out in a battlefield littered with bodies and blood.

"W-Who are you?" Valerie asked.

"My name is Vlad Masters." the man answered her. "I do research on ghosts, and when I came to this neighborhood and saw all this carnage, I was simply horrified!" He faked a smile. "I am just so relieved to see that at least one person is still alive!" Valerie sighed sadly.

"I may be alive, but my dad and little brother sure aren't." she said sadly. "Not anymore." She forced back her tears, and Vlad continued his act of sympathy.

"Oh dear, I am so terribly sorry!" he said. "However, I do believe I have something that can help you." He held up a tiny yellowish shard to Valerie, and her eyes widened slightly.

"Is that...?"

"A shard of the Divine Jewel." Vlad answered for her.

"B-But my daddy always said that ghosts used that for evil, and-"

"Well, that _is_ true," Vlad confessed. "However, it can also be used by humans with good intentions. You want to stay alive and avenge the murders of your family and friends, don't you?" That settled it. Valerie took the jewel shard without another question.

"Yes." she answered, her rage already beginning to increase because of the jewel shard's power. "Yes I do."

"Good." Vlad said, smiling evilly as he saw his newly-made pawn standing up.

"Danny Phantom...will pay!"

_Uh-oh! Danny's in trouble! Also, Vlad finally makes his appearance! BTW, contrary to popular belief, the ghost dog is NOT actually named Cujo in the show, Danny just called it that, referencing a rapid dog from the movie of the same name. But, for lack of a better name, he's actually called Cujo in this story. Kinda ironic that I made him Valerie's pet in my fic, innit? :-D_


	10. Danny vs Valerie

**AN**: _PEOPLE! Could you PLEASE start reviewing my story some more? I mean, I don't mean to sound greedy, but I'm working hard on this thing, and the fact that hardly anyone is writing any reviews makes me feel like I'm not doing a good job! I'm not asking for a lot, just at least one or two words to let me know what you think! Even if you think it sucks, tell me, and I'll make whatever changes to make it good! _

_Disclaimer: In my perfect world, I would own DP and Inuyasha, but in the real world, I don't. _

Danny's group gasped as they got to the neighborhood of Dreyward. Danielle couldn't even look at the horrific sight, so she turned away and buried her face in Sam's skirt.

"Oh man, this is brutal!" Tucker said, grasping his cane tightly. Sam put her hand over her mouth to keep herself from vomiting.

"Who could have done this?" she asked. As he surveyed the gore, something caught Danny's eye. Or rather, some_one_. Valerie came zooming down towards him on her hover-board. Danny couldn't see her face under her mask, however, he could somehow automatically tell that she was livid with rage. His eyes widened.

"MOVE!" he shouted to his friends as Valerie tackled him.

"Danny!" the others shouted in horror. Valerie ignored her pet, the two other ghosts, and the two human teenagers as she focused entirely on the half-ghost her veins were pumping with hatred for.

"DANNY PHANTOM!" she screamed. "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR KILLING ALL MY LOVED ONES!"

"What?" Danny asked in shock. "Look, I just got here, and..."

"LIAR!" Valerie screamed. She punched him backwards, then threw throwing stars at him. Danny moved as fast as he could, however, one of them cut his arm deeply. Danny screamed in agony, however, he didn't have any time to recover as Valerie shot an ecto-charged lasso from her wrist, constricting him so tightly that he gasped for breath. Valerie then threw Danny against a building, releasing the lasso. Danny coughed, blinking stars out of his vision and trying to feel something, anything, other than the pain that racked his body.

"That girl thinks that Danny killed her friends and family!" Danielle said with horror. "She's going to kill him!"

"Both how can she be so strong?" Tucker asked. "Ghost hunter or not, she's still only a human."

"Wait a minute." Sam said, feeling a familiar sensation as she detected a jewel shard." She looked up-and there it was. "There's a jewel shard in her back! Danny, there's a jewel shard in her back!" she shouted up.

"That explains it." Danny panted wheezily. He turned back to Valerie. "Listen to me," he shouted, sending spittle and blood flying. "I don't know how you got a jewel shard, but those things are real bad news. I can help you, though, if you just let me get it out of your..."

"No way!" Valerie shouted. "You just want it to cause even more destruction!"

"As fun as that sounds," Danny said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "I'm telling you the truth. I don't want to fight you!"

"You should have thought of that before you caused this genocide!" Valerie shouted. "But I'm gonna make sure that you never hurt anyone ever again!" she raised a large blaster, and Danny gaped in horror. Bravely, Danielle flew up to the ghost hunter quickly, and plucked the jewel from her back. Immediately, all the pain, all the weakness, came back to Valerie. She let out a cry of pain before starting to fall to the ground, her suit and hover-board shrinking back into her bracelet to reveal her casual clothes. Danny flew down quickly and caught her before she could splatter all over the street. Danielle was immediately horrified at what she had done.

"I-Is she dead?" she gasped.

"No." Danny said, easing her fears. "She's alive. But still, we need to get her some help."

"I'd be more worried about myself, if I were you." Everyone gasped as the white-haired man who had given Valerie the jewel shard appeared in the street. Two black rings appeared at his waist and spread up and down his body, causing him to undergo a transformation similar to Danny's when he had turned into a human.

His hair turned black, as well as being shaped into devil horns, his eyes turned solid red, his ears became pointed, his skin turned blue, and he grew fangs. Before long, an evil, vampiric-looking ghost was floating before the kids. Tucker gasped.

"It's him!" he shouted in alarm. "It's Vlad Plasmius."

"Very good, boy." The evil ghost said. "I suppose that you must be a descendant of that exorcist I infected with my nanobots." Tucker clenched his infected hand into a fist, glowering at him.

"And Danny Phantom!" he said with sadistic glee. "It's so hard to believe that it was ten years ago that I tricked you and that Jazz girl into fighting each other."

"What?" Danny said, his anger rising as well. "That was YOU?"

"Yes indeed." Vlad boasted. "It was only too easy. First, I used my holographic cloaking technology to disguise myself and speak to the ghost hunter, pretending to be you. Then, I turned the tables. I blasted a nice clean hole through the girl, then attacked you in the alley with her weapons!" Danny's eyes widened as he pictured the day in his mind.

* * *

><p>"<em>Jazz?" Jazz looked outside her window, at Danny floating in mid-air. <em>

"_Danny?" she asked. "What are you doing out-"_

"_Jazz-I don't know how much longer I can wait." 'Danny' said. "I want to become a full human." _

"_Well, alright." Jazz agreed. Grabbing the Divine Jewel, she walked outside, and joined him in her backyard. "Is here good?" she asked. To her surprise, 'Danny' smiled evilly._

"_Here is perfect." Before Jazz could even so much as gasp, 'Danny' shot a hole through her side, and Jazz cried out in pain as she fell to the ground, putting a hand to her injury. She reached for the Divine Jewel, which she had let go of, only for the ghost boy to stomp on her hand, causing her even more pain. Hurt both physically and emotionally, Jazz looked up at the ghost boy she had loved like a brother, only to see a cruel smile on his face. _

"_Fool." he said venomously. "Did you honestly think that I would ever want to give up these powers? Still, this little crystal could come in handy." Clutching it tightly in his hand, he flew off, and Jazz felt her sadness and confusion turn to anger as she watched him go. _

"_Damn you." Gritting her teeth together, she pulled herself up somewhat, and gathered all of her anger as she shouted "DAMN YOU, DANNY PHANTOM!"_

* * *

><p><em>A little later, the real Danny was flying through the air, hoping to find Jazz, then heard something. He looked right ahead-then suddenly flew out of the way, just narrowly avoiding getting hit with a blast of energy. He looked down, and saw Jazz standing on the roof of a house, weapon at the ready. <em>

"_Jazz!" he shouted in surprise. _

"_I'd never let a ghost use the Divine Jewel!" 'Jazz' shouted. "Especially not a half-ghost, who would just use it to become a full-fledged one!" Danny gasped in surprise. _

"_Jazz, how could you even think that-" 'Jazz' shot at him some more, and Danny had to keep dodging, and turned intangible, however, he actually did get hit once or twice. He couldn't understand what was going on. Jazz had just been lying to him the whole time? She didn't trust him, merely because he was half-ghost? And now she was trying to kill him? Danny felt confused, hurt, and betrayed all at once. _

_Then suddenly, a thought came to mind. If Jazz wasn't going to turn him into a human, then maybe he SHOULD follow her advice and become a _ghost_. He flew off, his mind set on stealing away the Divine Jewel._

* * *

><p>Back in the present, Danny seethed with anger, hating the man before him more and more every second.<p>

"You BASTARD!" he spat, and Vlad's smirk just got bigger.

"Yes, I outsmarted two teenagers, and rid myself of my two greatest obstacles. Well, for a little while, anyway." He shrugged. "Oh well. At least I can take consolation in the fact that I killed that ghost hunter's father, brother, and entire neighborhood-and made it look like you did it!" Valerie, who had regained consciousness by this point, gasped.

"That was you?" she asked in surprise and fury. Gritting her teeth together, she reached for her blaster-only to have pain shoot through her entire body.

"Easy there, Miss." said Tucker, who was holding her. "You don't have a shard of the Divine Jewel anymore, so you're not as strong now." Danny, at this point, was flying towards Vlad, burning with anger.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" he roared, shooting ghost ray after ghost ray at the evil man. Vlad just laughed, dodging all the rays.

"Now now, dear boy, you're going to have to do better than that." he said. Vlad's insults effectively fueled Danny's fury, and finally, he let out his ghostly wail on Vlad. The evil half-ghost was blown through at least four trees, and when Danny flew up to him, he disappeared. The fury on his face faded right away, replaced by a look of confusion.

"Whoa." he said. "That was easy."

"_Too_ easy." Tucker said. "Before she died, my mom told me that Vlad had the ability to create duplicates of himself. No doubt that was one of them." Danny scowled angrily.

"Coward." he said. "Can't even fight his own battles."

"Um, I think we have bigger concerns right now!" Sam said, motioning towards Valerie.

"Right." Danny said. "Let's get her to a hospital."

* * *

><p>About ten minutes later, the gang had found a good hospital and (after Sam and Tucker had managed to convince the workers that Danny, Danielle and Cujo were good ghosts) they got the ghost hunter into a hospital bed. Cujo whimpered at the pitiful condition of his mistress, and Valerie reached up weakly and scratched his ears.<p>

"I can't explain it." A doctor told the group of kids. "By all means, she should be dead. The only reason we can give that she has survived this long is that she's forcing herself to stay alive."

"But she's going to be alright, right?" Tucker asked in genuine concern.

"It will take some time, but we believe she'll live." the doctor encouraged him. She then walked out of the room, living them alone to talk.

"I can't believe I was so stupid." Valerie said. "That guy just showed up out of nowhere and offered me a piece of the most dangerous item in the Ghost Zone-and I took it without thinking of the consequences. And what have I got to show for it now? I lost my daddy, my brother, everyone!" She buried her face in her hands, and started to cry. Cujo whimpered again from Danielle's arms, and leaned over, licking her face. Despite herself, Valerie smiled slightly.

"Well, at least I didn't lose you." she said.

"I'm really sorry about what happened your loved ones, Valerie." Tucker said, taking her hand.

"Me too." Sam said.

"Me three." Danielle said. "My parents were killed not too long ago, I know how you feel."

"I can't wait to get my hands on that bastard Plasmius!" Danny said, clenching his hands into fists. "After we get all the shards of the Divine Jewel, I'm going to make him suffer for all he's done-to all of us!"

"Easy there, Danny." Sam said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Let's take things slow for now. First we have to wait for Valerie to heal." Danny sighed.

"You're right." he admitted. Valerie laughed a little.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked.

"Sorry," Valerie said. "It's just that-you're the strangest group of people I've ever seen. A half-ghost, a human from the Real World, an Exorcist, and a little ghost."

"Heh-heh, yeah, it's kinda weird, huh?" Danielle asked, putting Cujo down and rubbing the back of her head.

"Still, after I've healed, I wouldn't mind joining you people." Valerie said. "After all, I don't want evil ghosts getting the shards of the Divine Jewel any more than you do."

"Sure!" Tucker piped up right away. "We could use a pretty girl-um, I mean, excellent Ghost Hunter like you, on our side."

"I'm just going to ignore that first part." Valerie said, giving him a look. "But anyway, I'm in!"

"You sure you don't mind being on the same team as two ghosts?" Sam asked jokingly. Valerie smiled slyly as she pet Cujo again.

"I think I could handle it."

**AN**: _And so Valerie joins the team! In the next chapter, we learn a little about Danny's past, and why he wants to become a full ghost! Stick around!_


	11. Stories

**AN**: _In this chapter, we get a little insight into a few things, like Vlad's origin, and why Danny wants to become a full ghost. Read, review, and enjoy! BTW, no, I haven't thought up a story for the Divine Jewel yet. *Rubs back of head nervously*_

_Disclaimer: If I owned anything, would I even BE on this website?_

A little more than a week later, Valerie's injuries had finally healed, and she was able to leave the hospital. The first thing the gang did was to pay Mr. Lancer a visit. Sam introduced their two new companions, and told Mr. Lancer of Plasmius.

"Vlad Plasmius," Mr. Lancer said, getting a strange look on his face. "Yes, I suppose it does make sense that he'd stoop to those lows."

"Mr. Lancer, did you know him?" Sam asked in realization.

"Not personally." Mr. Lancer answered. "However, I heard of him through an old acquaintance. He used to be a human, Vlad Masters, who was very interested in the ghosts inhabiting this world-a little too interested. One day, he had a conversation with my comrade."

* * *

><p>"<em>Fascinating creatures, these ghosts, wouldn't you say?" An older man with sideburns turned to Vlad, raising an eyebrow. <em>

"_Well, yes, I suppose so." he said. _

"_Wouldn't it be amazing if humans could have the powers of ghosts?" Vlad asked, looking up at the ceiling dreamily. _

"_I don't think that's possible." the other man said. "I think only natural-born human/ghost hybrids can have that kind of power."_

"_Perhaps you're right." Vlad answered him. "Still though, one can dream."_

* * *

><p>"I didn't think much of it when I first heard the story." Mr. Lancer said. "However, years later, I learned that he had gotten a bad case of ecto-acne from working on an unstable invention called the ecto-converter."<p>

"So he was trying to turn himself into a ghost?" Sam asked. "But if that's the case, why not just, I don't know, jump off a cliff or something?" Everyone stared at her, and Danny resisted the urge to facepalm. Mr. Lancer chuckled despite himself.

"It's not that simple." he said. "After years of study in the Ghost Zone, human scientists learned that ghosts are not dead people, as other humans have long thought, but rather creatures made of ectoplasmic energy."

"Oh." Sam said, flushing red in embarrassment.

"Anyway," Mr. Lancer continued, "Vlad had performed experiments on himself, and I knew that he was trying to give himself ghost powers. The day after, I heard that he had escaped from the hospital I sent him to."

"But I still don't get it!" Danny said. "Why infect Tucker's family with nanobots? Why turn me and Jazz against each other? Why kill Valerie's friends and family?" Sam stared at Danny in surprise. She was seeing something rare, she knew. Danny was showing compassion for humans. Well, humans other than Jazz. True, she had seen this side of him before, but that was when he had turned into a human, and she couldn't be completely sure that he had meant what he said.

"To tell you the truth, I don't really know myself." Mr. Lancer confessed. "It might be that he has gone mad. Or perhaps he desires the Divine Jewel to make himself a full ghost. Or maybe, just maybe, it's a combination of both." Sam gasped a little.

_He lost his mind? Because he wants to use the power of the Divine Jewel to turn himself into a full ghost? But then, does that mean..._

She turned to Danny, only to see that he had already left. Curious, she walked outside, unseen by the others. Sure enough, she saw Danny sitting on the roof, staring into the sky.

"You know, it's not generally considered polite to just leave while somebody is talking." the Goth said. She expected him to make some snappy comeback, but he just stared down at her wordlessly. Sam raised both eyebrows. This was certainly different.

"Mind if I asked you a question?" she asked. Danny shrugged.

"Shoot."

"Well," Sam gulped as she gathered her courage and chose her words correctly. "Why do you want to become a full ghost anyway?" For the longest time, there was nothing but silence. Finally, Danny stood up and slowly, deliberately, floated down to where Sam was. She was worried at first that she had angered him somehow, but when he looked at her, his face was completely blank.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked.

"Well-yeah." Sam said.

"Alright." Danny said, giving in without a fight. "It all started when I was very little, back when my dad was still alive."

* * *

><p><em>Eight-year-old Danny Fenton caught the Frisbee his dad had tossed, a smile lighting up his bright little face. <em>

"_Great catch, son!" Jack said proudly. "How about tossing it back to your old man, now?" _

"_Here you go, Dad!" Danny shouted, tossing the Frisbee back. Jack caught the Frisbee, and tossed it back to Danny, who went flying to catch it-only to bump into something solid. The blond boy glowered at him angrily. _

"_Hey, watch where you're going!" he said angrily. _

"_I-I didn't see you there, Dash!" the half-ghost kid said apologetically. "I'm sorry!" _

"_Yeah, you'd better be sorry Casper!" Dash shouted, and Jack Fenton came running over._

"_Hey, what's going on here?" he questioned angrily. "You giving my boy a hard time?" Any other child would have probably quaked in fear at the way the large man loomed over him, but Dash was as bold as he was stupid. _

"_This **thing** is your kid?" he sneered._

"_I'm not a thing!" Danny shouted back, angrily. _

"_Then tell me, what ARE you?" Dash asked. "You're definitely not human, but you're not really a ghost either, are you? You're a freak!" Those words stabbed Danny like a knife. His eyes started to fill with tears as Jack resisted the urge to strangle this mean boy for hurting his son. _

"_I think you'd best **leave** now." he said in a threatening voice. _

"_Fine by me." Dash said. "See ya 'round, freak!" he called back to Danny as he ran off. Once Dash had left, Danny fell to his knees, his body wracking with sobs. _

"_Aw, cheer up Danny boy," Jack said, trying to comfort his son. "Don't listen to that kid. You're not a freak." _

"_You're my dad!" Danny sobbed. "You're not **supposed** to think bad things about me! And anyway, it's still true!" He looked up at his dad through tear-filled eyes. "I'm a human with ghost powers, Dad! What do you call that?" Jack knelt down to Danny's height and pulled him into a hug._

"_I call that special." Jack answered. "Very special."_

* * *

><p><em>A couple nights later, Danny was outside, practicing his flying. He was getting pretty good at it, though he did get dizzy if he looked down. The eight-year-old laughed a little to himself as he soared higher and higher. He was considering flying to somewhere like the park and back, when his dad's voice called from below him<em>

"_Danny! Time for bed!" Danny pouted a little. _

Oh well,_ he thought. _There's always tomorrow night._ He started to float downwards, toward his house, when suddenly his ghost sense went off. He looked around nervously, and then saw an evil-looking, shadowy ghost flying through the neighborhood, destroying everything it phased through. _

"_Dad, look out!" Danny shouted. Jack looked up as the ghost phased through a tree, causing it to snap apart and start to fall. Flying as fast as he could, Danny pushed his dad out of the way before he could get smashed. Both of them looked up and gasped as the ghost hovered above them, grinning evilly down at them. _

"_A ghost!" Jack shouted, going into ghost-fighter/protective father mode. "Danny, get inside!"_

"_But Dad, I want to help you fight it!" Danny insisted. _

"_It's too dangerous!" Jack said. "Get into the house!" Reluctantly, Danny ran inside, and Jack pulled out two blasters, firing at the ghost. It was quick though, and avoided every one of the blasts. Jack grit his teeth together in frustration. _

"_Alright then, let's see how you like the Jack-o-Ninetails, punk!" He pulled out a whip-like device (which had his face on it), and threw it at the shadow ghost. It avoided all nine whips, and flew in front of Jack, slapping the weapon out of his hand and pinning him to the ground. _

"_Dad!" Danny shouted. He flew outside, and charged up ghost rays in his hands. "Leave him alone!" he demanded. "Or I'll-I'll...!" However, his threat was short-lived, as the ghost energy __crackled temporarily, and then faded away. The shadow ghost laughed evilly before slapping Danny against the house. _

"_Danny!" Jack shouted. He ran to his son, just in time for the evil ghost to phase through a telephone pole above them. It gave way, and Danny realized what was going to happen. He tried to stand up and fly, but his body was too sore. _

"_Dad, look out!" he shouted. Jack looked up, but it was too late. He was crushed by the falling metal and glass. _

"_DAD!" he screamed. The shadow ghost cast him one more evil smile before flying off. Danny was finally able to ignore his pain and ran over to his dad, who was miraculously still alive. _

"_Dad!" Danny shouted, his eyes tearing up as he started to sob. "Dad, I'm so sorry! Please don't die! Don't die, Dad!" Jack opened his eyes and looked at his son. _

"_Danny..." he choked out weakly. That's the only thing he was able to say before his eyes closed and he stopped moving. _

"_Dad!" Danny shouted, knowing then that he would never see his dad again. "DADDY!"_

* * *

><p>Sam clapped her hands over her mouth, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill over.<p>

"Oh my God." she said, shocked and touched by what she had just heard.

"I wasn't able to protect the only family I had." Danny said. His back was to Sam, and she wasn't able to see his face. "I was alone, and had to take care of myself. And I swore to myself that I'd become stronger, so that I would never have to see anyone else I cared about get killed. I practiced with my powers everyday, and have gotten a lot stronger since then, however, the only way I can be 100% certain that I can protect others is to make myself a full ghost."

"BULL!" Sam shouted, even though she still had tears in her eyes. "You've been able to protect me and Danielle just fine while still a half-ghost! And even when you turned human, when we were up against all those ghost bats, we were just fine!"

"I wasn't able to protect Jazz." Sam fell silent. Danny took this as a cue to continue.

"First my father, then my sister. I wasn't able to save either of them. Kind of makes me a screw-up."

"Would you just knock it off, already?" Sam said. She felt sorry for Danny, yes, but she couldn't stand people who wallowed in self-pity. "Plasmius tricked you and Jazz, and turned you against each other! You couldn't have done anything anyway!" Danny didn't say anything for the longest time. Finally, he turned to Sam. His face looked sad, and his eyes were soft, making it look to Sam like he was about to cry.

"I know I don't say this often enough," he started, his voice soft, "but I care about you. And Danielle, and the old man, and everyone. And if I wasn't able to protect you guys-if I ever lost anybody else close to me..." Sam couldn't take it anymore. She ran to Danny and threw her arms around him.

"We're not going to die." she said. "None of us. We're all going to look out for each other, and fight to find the jewel shards, and bring Plasmius down. And not to brag, but I think I've gotten pretty strong since I started coming here."

"True, you have." Danny admitted. He then saw a ghost portal opening behind Sam, and got an idea. "However, I'd still feel better-if you were out of harm's way!" Before Sam could say a word, he pushed her into the portal. The portal closed, and Danny breathed an internal sigh of relief knowing that Sam was now where no ghosts or monsters would be able to harm her ever again.

_I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me for this, Sam._ He thought. _I did it for you._

**AN**: _Tsk tsk, Danny. Oh well, he was only thinking of Sam, anyway. And I realize that this is shorter than most of my other chapters, sorry about that. So, I'm sure you guys have a couple of questions. Like; How was Vlad able to be around long enough to infect Tucker's grandfather with nanobots and still look the same as he did back then? Well, let's say that his experiments also stopped him from aging. Also, the thing about ghosts being beings made of ectoplasmic energy is canon-Butch Hartman said so himself, and it was mentioned in one episode. Also, I realize that Jack might've been kinda OOC, but hey, he was raising a half-ghost son who was picked on by humans and ghosts alike. Anyway, what did you think? Review please!_


	12. AJ's Return

**AN**: _Yeah, I lied, this chapter isn't much longer than the last one. Sorry *Guilty smile*. On a slightly related note, I'm beginning to run out of ideas-maybe I should go back and start watching Inuyasha again. In either case, start expecting later updates. Don't worry though, I don't have any plans of dropping this story any time soon. _

_Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Butch Hartman. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. THEY are the creative minds behind these great series, and I am but a lowly insignificant worm. Now, please excuse me while I go off and cry..._

Sam let out a yell as she fell through the portal back into the human world.

"Huh?" she blinked a couple times in confusion, then got angry. "That jerk!" she shouted angrily. "I try to open up to him, and he just sends me back here! What a know-it-all, self-righteous...!" She sighed, looking down at the ground miserably. He had just done it to try and protect her, she knew. In the long run, she guessed she couldn't really blame him. Her head spinning, and full of conflicting thoughts, she stood up and walked back home.

* * *

><p>"Danny, where's Sam?" Tucker, Valerie, and Danielle came back outside, and were more than a little baffled at the sight of their missing companion.<p>

"She said she had to go home." Danny lied. "She wanted to see her family."

"But didn't she just return from her own world not too long ago?" Tucker asked.

"Oh well, um, she said she also has to catch up on some 'schoolwork'." Danny lied, putting finger quotes around the word 'schoolwork'.

"Well, I hope she comes back soon." Danielle said, scratching Cujo under the chin.

"We should probably get going." Danny said quickly.

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Lancer!" Valerie said, waving back at the man as they all left. He waved back, his eyes on Danny. The others may have believed his story, but Lancer was no such fool. He had gone to put the mugs they had drunk from in the sink, and from his kitchen, he had a nice view of Danny giving Sam a big hug-before pushing her into a ghost portal opening behind her. He scowled.

_Mr. Phantom, you are a fool._

Lancer, however, wasn't the only one spying on Danny and the others. A camera bug scuttled along a tree, following the gang, and Plasmius grinned from his laboratory.

"Excellent." he said. "Young Daniel and his ragtag group of chums are now a member short. I think that now would be as good a time as ever to strike at them." He turned to a figure in the shadows. "Wouldn't you agree?" The person didn't say anything, but bowed, soulless, half-closed eyes staring coldly ahead.

"Excellent." Plasmius said. "You know what to do." The figure jumped backwards, disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

><p>"Oh, you're back." Sam scowled.<p>

"Good to see you too, Star." she said sarcastically.

It was Sam's first day back at school in almost two weeks, and she was already off to a bad start. Being Goth, she was, of course, low on the social ladder. She preferred it that way, though. If the kids at Casper High knew about her immense wealth, they'd be all over her, constantly asking for monetary favors, and the very people she hated would flock around her 24/7, and insist that they were 'friends'. The very thought of it made Sam sick to her stomach. She couldn't stand shallow, artificial people like that, and would much rather be invisible than one of them. Still though, she could've done without the heckling.

"Thought for sure you'd gone back to Transylvania with the other creatures of the night." Star smirked.

"Drop dead, bitch." Sam responded, and Star gaped in shock. Before she could say anything back to her, the bell rang. Sam didn't say another word as she walked away, leaving the bimbo behind.

In class, Sam tried to concentrate. She copied down the teacher's words, all the while, thinking of her last moment with Danny.

"_I'd still feel better-if you were out of harm's way!"_

"Idiot." she said quietly to herself. "I understand how he must feel, but I can take care of myself! Who does he think he is?"

"Miss Manson, are you quite done talking to yourself yet?" Sam looked up and blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry Mr. Crocker." she apologized. The hunchbacked, bespectacled man glared down his nose at her.

"You've been gone for days. You're lucky I don't give you an 'F' right now!"

"Sorry, Mr. Crocker." Sam said reluctantly. "I'll pay attention." _Though it's hard to take a fairy-obsessed maniac seriously._ She thought.

"Now class," Crocker continued, "Don't forget, there's a quiz tomorrow! Now then...FAIRY GODPARENTS, FAIRY GODPARENTS, FAIRY GODPARENTS!" Sam facepalmed.

_Geez,_she thought, _it doesn't matter if I'm in the Ghost Zone or the Real World, I'm surrounded by weirdos!_

* * *

><p>That night, Danny, Tucker, Valerie, Danielle, and Cujo were all staying at Mr. Lancer's house. Luckily, he had some spare rooms, and the boys got one room, while the girls got Jazz's old room.<p>

"I don't think Danny was telling the truth." Valerie, who had been scratching Cujo's stomach, looked up in surprise at Danielle.

"Hmm?"

"I've known Sam for a little while now." Danielle said. "And there's no way she'd leave without telling us."

"Could it be possible-that Danny sent her back to the Real World himself?" Valerie asked thoughtfully. Danielle shrugged.

"Possibly." she said. "He does care about her. Even if he doesn't always act like it." Valerie stared at her in surprise for a little while, and then smiled a little, despite herself.  
>"Not too long ago, I believed that ghosts didn't care about anything or ANYONE. I gotta say, it's actually kinda nice to be proven wrong." Danielle smiled at her.<p>

"Yeah, we're not all bad." she said, then phased under the sheets. "Goodnight!"

"Night." Valerie said, as she turned out the light next to Danielle so that the small girl could get some sleep. She herself wasn't feeling too tired; her head was swimming in thoughts. After training all her life to hunt ghosts, she herself was now on a team with TWO ghosts. It was just too crazy. Putting Cujo away, she was just about to get ready for bed herself, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye at the window. She turned her head to look, but the person sped off. Valerie could see that they were on a hover-board much like hers. Quickly changing into her suit, she opened the window and jumped out, clicking her heels to bring out her own hover-board. She sped after the person as fast as she could. They seemed familiar somehow-but Valerie couldn't quite make out who it was in the darkness.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Slow down!" Amazingly, her quarry obliged, and just hovered in midair, waiting for Valerie to catch up. Once she did, her eyes widened under her mask.

"AJ!" she shouted. Indeed, it was her little brother, standing right in front of her, unmasked. Valerie pulled off her own mask and flew closer to him, her face a mixture of relief and confusion.

"But how...I thought..." Images flashed through her head-of the attack on her neighborhood, of the horror on AJ's face when he regained control of his body, of the ghost she THOUGHT had been Danny blasting him.

"H-How are you alive?"

"Well, that's quite easy to explain." Valerie gasped as Plasmius appeared next to her brother, a smug grin on his face. "You see, he was never really dead to begin with."

"You!" Valerie shouted. "Get away from him!" she pulled out a blaster and aimed it at the evil ghost, who just shook his finger at her as if scolding a small child.

"Uh uh uh," he said. "Now, do you really want to risk hitting your own brother?" Valerie put the blaster away, but her angry frown remained in place.

"Talk, Plasmius." she demanded. "How is AJ alive?"

"Well, it's like I just said, he was never really dead." he said. "After I sent my Danny clone to attack your neighborhood, I paid the place a visit shortly before I appeared to you, and found your poor little brother lying on the ground, dying. I was feeling generous, so I slipped a shard of the Divine Jewel into his back, keeping him alive. Now wasn't that kind of me?"

"YOU KILL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY, AND YOU THINK THAT SAVING ONE LITTLE BOY MAKES YOU SOME KIND OF SAINT?" Valerie demanded, ignoring every instinct, which was telling her to kill Plasmius right then and there.

"Oh, not in the least." Plasmius confirmed, his smile disappearing. Valerie looked at AJ, who she just realized had a blank look on his face, his eyes soulless, staring at nothing.

"What do you want?" she asked Vlad. Vlad smiled again.

"I'm glad you asked." he said. "Here's what I want you to do."

* * *

><p>Sam, meanwhile, was laying awake in her bed. Lilith, who was sleeping in her room with her, walked over to the Goth girl and meowed, looking up at her owner with her wise green eyes. Sam sighed.<p>

"I don't know what I'm doing, Lilith." she said. "I mean, it's kinda nice to be back here, but I should be with Danny and the others, helping then to fight ghosts and find shards of the Divine Jewel. But I don't even have the Infi-Map, so I don't know where a portal to the Ghost Zone could open up." Lilith jumped onto Sam's bed and rubbed herself up against her cheek. A serious look came over Sam's face.

"I'll see about it tomorrow." she said, pulling the covers over her head. "It'll be better than taking a quiz, that's for sure."

* * *

><p>"Um, Danny?" It was the next day. Valerie and Danny were the first ones up. Danny tilted his head slightly to look at the ghost hunter.<p>

"Oh, you're up." he said.

"Um, yeah." Valerie said. "So, I was out for an early morning walk earlier, and I encountered a bunch of ghosts with jewel shards!" Danny turned completely around, interest peaked.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah." Valerie said. "There were way too many to fight, and they were all too powerful. I thought I'd tell you and the others."

"Good call." Danny said. "I'll get the others up, and we'll get going." As he left to rouse Tucker and Danielle, Valerie felt a twinge of guilt. She was about to betray the trust of her new friends. She felt bad about doing do, but Vlad had promised to return AJ to her, unharmed, and returned to normal. She took a deep breath.

_I'm doing this for you AJ_. She thought.

* * *

><p>"Sammykins, time for school!" Stella Manson shouted up to her daughter.<p>

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Sam said, walking down the stairs with her backpack slung over her shoulders. Walking into the kitchen, she grabbed a piece of toast that just popped out of the toaster, taking a bite out of it as she headed for the door. She said goodbye to her parents, grandma and Lilith, then walked outside. She then felt a strange throbbing sensation.

"What the?" she said. "What? Oh yeah, I forgot, I still have the shards of the Divine Jewel!" Reaching into her shirt, she pulled out the large shard she was wearing around her neck. "But then-that means-is there a shard of the jewel around here? In the Real World?" She looked around and saw it-a lone shard lying by itself near a wastebasket.

"There it is!" she said. She then started to walk over to it, only to hear a voice saying

"Oh, I dropped it!" Sam looked up at the source of the voice. It was a blue-skinned, blond ghost who was wearing pajamas and, to Sam, looked pretty dumb. Still, she didn't want to get into trouble in her own world if she could help it.

"Um, hi there!" she said, waving at the ghost. "I'm sorry, but I kinda need that jewel shard."

"Ahhh, but it's MINE!" the ghost whined. "I brought it with me when I came into this world through that portal!" He pointed at a ghost portal in a dumpster, and Sam thought to herself

_So THAT'S how he got here._

"Sorry, but I need it for a present...for a friend!" Sam said, thanking her lucky stars that she had thought to put away her own jewel shard.

"If I let you have my shard, will you be _my_ friend?" the ghost asked hopefully. Sam resisted the urge to barf as she said

"Yeah, sure!"

"Yay!" the ghost cheered. Sam then quickly picked up the jewel shard and ran for the ghost portal, getting to it right before it closed.

_Wonder if I should've just taken that ghost out._ She wondered. _He looked harmless, but..._ Sam's feet landed on solid ground, and she found herself back in the Ghost Zone.

"Well, here I am," she said out loud to herself. "Now I just have to..." She then gasped as she realized where she was. Three ghostly vultures, like the one that had possessed the Guy In White during one of her first days in the Ghost Zone, and a bunch of ghostly octopus-like beings, were gathered around a small, black human boy. Sam was worried that they were about to attack him, and was about to run out to help him, but stopped when she heard one of the vultures ask

"So, we'll all get shards of the Divine Jewel, then?"

"Yes." the boy answered in a flat monotone. "If all of you are armed with jewel shards, it should be enough to destroy them, even as powerful as they are." He opened his hand, and Sam saw several jewel shards in his palm. The ghosts all rushed forward for one like greedy kids running for candy, and Sam saw them gulp them down, transforming into monstrous beings.

"Now go." the boy said. "They're going to a cave not far from here. Destroy Danny Phantom and the others." Sam gasped as the ghosts took off.

_The guys are in trouble!_ She thought. _I've got to..._her thoughts were then interrupted by the boy's voice saying

"I see you." before Sam had much time to turn around, she was zapped in the back by something. She let out a brief scream of pain before falling to the ground, unconscious.

"Sorry, but I can't let you ruin the plan." AJ said, as he moved to stand over him. "It's on Plasmius' orders."

_Uh-oh, Sam's in trouble! What will happen now? Will the gang be able to save her and avoid Plasmius' trap? Will AJ ever be freed from Plasmius' control? Will just leaving Klemper to roam free in the Real World come back to bite Sam in the butt? *coughyeahrightcough* And yes, Mr. Crocker is Sam's teacher in this story XD I mean, I had AJ as Valerie's little brother, so I just figured, why not? Review, please!_


	13. The Team is Reunited

**AN**: _Hello? Is anybody even still reading this story? Well, for those of you who are-I have an announcement to make: I will not post the next chapter until I get at least 10 reviews! For all my hard work, it seems like almost nobody is reading this fanfic, and frankly, I don't even know if I should continue with this story anymore. Review, PLEASE!_

_Disclaimer: See previous chapters_

"So um, Valerie, are we there yet?" Tucker asked.

"Almost." Valerie said, trying not to betray the sadness in her voice, and failing miserably.

"Hey Valerie, are you okay?" Danielle asked.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine!" Valerie lied. After a few seconds, when she was sure that nobody else was looking at her, she sighed as she remembered her deal with Vlad.

* * *

><p>"<em>Tomorrow, I'll spring a little trap for Danny Phantom and the rest of his friends." The evil halfa explained. "Waiting in the cave at the edge of the forest will be three of my minions, powered up with jewel shards. All you have to do is lead them there, and you can have your little brother back." <em>

"_Never!" Valerie shouted angrily. "I'm not going to lead my friends into a death trap! Forget it!" The smile disappeared from Vlad's face. Suddenly, as if right on cue, the jewel shard's power on AJ weakened temporarily, and he blinked in confusion. _

"_V-Valerie?" Valerie gasped and looked down at him. _

"_AJ?" Before another word could pass between the two, Vlad grabbed AJ by the neck of his suit and lifted him up into the air. AJ yelled in fear and Valerie shouted _

"_AJ!" Grabbing a blaster, she pointed it at Vlad. _

"_You sure you want to try that?" Vlad asked. "You know, I might be tempted to use young AJ here as a shield. Do you really want to run the risk of killing your own little brother?" Valerie looked from Vlad to AJ, whose eyes were full of fear. She couldn't do this. She couldn't see her little brother die again. Especially not after she already thought that he had been killed. She lowered her gun reluctantly, and Vlad smiled evilly. _

"_I thought so." he said. _

"_Valerie, what's going on?" AJ asked fearfully. "Who is this ghost?" Vlad looked at the small boy, his smile not wavering for a second. _

"_Don't question it." he said. "Just know that you serve me." AJ's eyes closed, then they opened, the soulless look returning. _

"_Yes, Master." he said in a monotone. "Sorry for my impertinence." Against Valerie's will, her eyes watered as she looked from AJ, (whom Vlad had set back down) who had become a slave with no will of his own, to Vlad, who was using them both. _

"_You're a monster." she said quietly, trying not to cry. _

"_Maybe so." he replied, "But I'm the monster who holds your little brother's life in his hands. So don't disappoint me, alright?" Valerie didn't say another word, but rode off, her body starting to shake with sobs._

* * *

><p>Back in the present, Valerie fumed quietly.<p>

_Plasmius,_ she thought to herself, _as soon as I get AJ back, I will destroy you!_

"We're here." she said out loud, pointing into a cave. "They're in there."

"Alright guys." Danny said, turning around and looking at everyone. "Ready?"

"You bet!" Tucker said, clenching his nanobot-infested hand into a fist.

"Ready!" Danielle said, charging up her fists with ectoplasmic energy. Cujo growled and turned into his giant form. Valerie just nodded wordlessly.

* * *

><p>Inside the cave, AJ was hiding in the shadows with all the transformed ghosts.<p>

"They're close." he said. "Be ready to attack when they walk in." Sam, whom the ghosts had left lying unconscious nearby, had just regained consciousness. She gasped as she saw the ghosts hovering above her, and remembered their plan from earlier.

_Danny and the others are in trouble!_ She thought. _I have to sneak out of here and warn them!_ Grabbing her blaster, she crawled along the ground, towards a small opening, when suddenly one of the octopus ghosts floated down in front of her. Getting up quickly, Sam pointed her blaster at it and fired. Needless to say, this had little to no effect, and the ectopus just picked her up in its tentacles. Sam tried ineffectively to escape, then, without even knowing why, shouted

"DANNY!"

"Huh?" Danny, who was just about to fly inside the cave said. "Sam?"

"IT'S A TRAP!" Sam shouted, as the ectopus put its tentacle over her mouth. Danny, who had just flown inside, didn't miss this.

"Sam!" He blasted the ectopus with both hands. Naturally, this didn't do much to hurt the shard-empowered ghost, but it did let go of Sam. Danny flew and caught her before she fell, but was suddenly ambushed by all the other ghosts.

"Sam, run!" Danny said, setting her down gently near the exit, as he prepared himself to fight. He blasted futilely at the ghosts, and they all tackled him like a bunch of football players.

"Sam?" Tucker asked in confusion. "What's going on here?"

"No time to explain-INCOMING!" This last part Sam shouted as some of the ghosts spilled out of the cave. She, Tucker, and Danielle started blasting at them with their respective powers/weapons, Valerie powered up her battle suit, and Cujo turned into his giant form.

"They all have jewel shards!" Tucker shouted. "This is going to be tough!" He was then suddenly knocked aside by one of the ghost vultures.

"Tucker!" Danielle shouted as she was seized by one of the ectopusses, which squeezed her like the other one had squeezed Sam. Danielle, however, just smirked.

"Nice try." she said, before phasing out of its grip. She tried to blast it, but it shot a huge wave of ink from one of its tentacles. Cujo charged at two ghosts, but they moved out of the way, and three more came from the sky, and pinned the enormous ghost dog down. A vulture then started pecking at his neck, causing him to whimper in pain. Valerie winced at the sound.

_They don't stand a chance._ She thought. _What have I done? I've got to end this now!_ Facing forward, she called out

"AJ!"

_Huh? AJ?_ Sam thought as she ran from an attack, blaster in hand. _Isn't that what she said the name of her little brother was?_ Valerie zoomed into the cave, ignoring all the danger all around her.

"Valerie!" Tucker shouted in fear.

"AJ, come with me!" Valerie said, pulling off her mask and looking at him desperately. "Please, fight Plasmius' control! I know you can break free!" AJ blinked, and for a second, he looked like the old AJ. Valerie's AJ.

"Val?" he asked. Valerie smiled and moved up to where he was. Suddenly, a large blast from outside caught both siblings' attention. Danny was being crushed in a vulture's claws as it flew upwards with him.

"Danny, I have an idea!" Sam shouted. "Fire an ectoplasmic blast at its stomach at the same time I pull the trigger!"

"Are you sure that will work?" Danny asked.

"It's bound to do something!" Sam said. Danny decided to trust her, and fired a ectoplasmic ray as she pulled the trigger on her blaster. This didn't kill the vulture, however, it blasted a nice clean hole through its stomach, and its jewel shard fell out, causing it to turn back into its regular form. Danny caught the jewel shard as it fell and escaped from the vulture's grip, glaring at it angrily.

"Um, uh...boo?" the vulture said pathetically. Danny just blasted it to oblivion without skipping a beat.

"I think if we all combine our attacks and shoot at their stomachs, we can beat them!" Sam said. "That's where all their jewel shards are, and that's their weakest spots!" Tucker and Danielle combined their blasts, and managed to take out two ghosts, gaining their jewel shards. Danny and Sam combined two of their own blasts again, destroying two of the other ghosts and getting their jewel shards.

* * *

><p>Inside the cave, as the battle was going on, Valerie kept trying to appeal to AJ.<p>

"Let's get you out of here." she said. "You don't have to serve Vlad anymore!" Before AJ could answer, the cave started to collapse, as a blast hit the side of the cave. Valerie didn't wait for AJ to reply anymore. She just grabbed his hand, and flew out of the cave with him. Before they got to the entrance, however, AJ suddenly jerked his hand out of Valerie's.

"Huh?" Valerie said in confusion. "What are you doing?" AJ looked at Valerie sadly. His eyes were back to normal, which meant that he wasn't being controlled by Vlad anymore. At the moment, at least. His face was full of regret as he said.

"I'm sorry, Valerie." Then, without another word, he pointed his blaster upward and pulled the trigger. Even more rocks started to fall, blocking the entrance of the cave as it collapsed into itself.

"AJ!" Valerie screamed desperately. "_AJ!_"

"Valerie, what are you doing?" Tucker screamed as he, and the others, continued to fight. "Get out of there!" Reluctantly, Valerie flew away as the entire cave was reduced to nothing but a big pile of rock.

At this point, all the ghosts had been destroyed, and the gang had about seven more jewel shards, which Sam added to the large fragment she wore around her neck.

"Valerie, what happened here?" Danny asked. "There was something going on here, wasn't there?"

"Well, yes." Valerie confessed. "Last night, I saw Plasmius. He had kept AJ alive with a shard of the Divine Jewel, and promised to give him back to me if I-" she sighed, dreading the words that were to come next, "If I led you guys into a death trap."

"And you BELIEVED him?" Danny asked incredulously. "After what he did to you? You could have just told us, and..."

"WHAT CHOICE DID I HAVE?" Valerie shouted angrily, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He said he'd send ghosts to spy on me! And if I betrayed him, or told you guys, he said he'd kill AJ!" Valerie couldn't continue. She fell on her knees, burying her face in her hands and sobbing loudly. Sam suddenly felt sorry for the dark-skinned girl. Kneeling down, she patted her shoulder and said

"You know, while I was in that cave, I noticed a small opening. AJ probably could've escaped before it collapsed."

"Hey, wait a minute, what are you doing back here anyway?" Danny asked. "I thought I..." he suddenly stopped as he realized that he was about to give himself away.

"Thought you what?" Danielle asked curiously.

"Yes, tell them, Danny." Sam said viciously. "Tell them about how you pushed me into a portal to the Real World."

"You did that?" Tucker asked. "You said she went back herself!" Danny facepalmed.

"I did it to keep her safe!" Danny yelled angrily. "And then you go and get yourself captured!" he said, turning back on Sam.

"But I _also_ figured out how to defeat those ghosts!" Sam argued back. "You NEED me!"

"Okay, everybody just stop it right now!" Danielle said in frustration. "We can play the blame game all we want, but that won't change anything that's happened, because we can't do anything to fix it now! The fact is that we all need each other, and we need to find the jewel shards so that we can stop Plasmius once and for all, so that he never hurts anyone else ever again!" Danny sighed.

"You're right." he confessed, beaten.

_How about that-the youngest member of our group is smarter than all of us._ He thought. Tucker walked over to Valerie and helped her up.

_I hope you did make it out, AJ_. Valerie thought as she started to walk along with the others. _I couldn't bear losing you twice._

**AN**: _*Facepalms* I suck at battle scenes. Also, did you think Valerie and AJ were too OOC?_


	14. Attn: Readers

Attention readers, if any of you are out there: Of Ghosts and Demons is going on hiatus. There are a couple of reasons for this-a) I'm beginning to run out of ideas, and I'm going to go back over and look over the Inuyasha series again to decide what to write next, and get some ideas. b) I have another fanfiction idea, which I would like to work on. I haven't decided on a name for it yet, but it's going to be an Invader Zim fanfic. I don't know how long, but this story is going on hold until I can get my head clear. I hope you understand. See you all when I get back! 


	15. Tucker's Problem

**AN**: _Hello, people! Bet you thought I'd forgotten about you, didn't you? I would never forget my loyal readers! So, for being so patient, here's an early Christmas gift-the next chapter! I hope you enjoy, and review! __  
><em>

_Disclaimer: If I owned Danny Phantom, well, let's just say that he'd be different._

It had been a couple days since everything that had happened with AJ and everyone was, for the most part, back to normal. Sam and Danny were on good speaking terms again, and things had been relatively peaceful.

Finally, they reached a nice-looking hotel.

"I'll go check us in." Sam said, and went inside to pay for rooms for all of them. Tucker, who was at the very back of the group, was wondering whether or not to talk to Valerie, when he suddenly heard a voice saying

"Hey there, handsome!" Tucker turned around-and a big grin spread across his face. A beautiful girl with dark red hair, emerald eyes, and a flawless smile jogged right past him.

"Hey there, wait up!" Tucker said, chasing after her without a second thought. As this was going on, Danny and Danielle's ghost senses both went off.

"Did you feel that?" Danny asked.

"Yeah!" Danielle answered.

"Hmmm?" Valerie asked as she noticed them both starting to fly off. "Where are you guys going?"

"Ghost nearby!" Danny explained. Valerie changed into her ghost-hunting suit just in case, and Cujo tagged close behind her.

* * *

><p>At this point, Tucker had reached the girl, and they were standing in a park. The girl laughed as Tucker doubled over for breath, and he just smiled back at her.<p>

"Wow, you're fast." he said. "Name's Tucker, by the way. Tucker Foley. So, what's your name?"

"Don't worry about that." The girl said, lowering her eyes seductively. "Just come gimme some sugar." Grinning like the fool that he was, Tucker walked over to her, closing his eyes and puckering his lips out. Smiling evilly, the girl turned into a ghost and, just before Tucker got close enough for her to attack, she was hit by a blast from the sky, which caused her to fly backwards. Tucker opened his eyes and gaped in shock as he saw the ghost that he was about to kiss.

"Whoa! I get the feeling that would've given me more than just cooties." he quipped.

"Tucker, get down!" Danny said as he and Danielle blasted at the ghost again. This time, however, she managed to move out of the way, and, opening her mouth wide, shot out a blast of lightning towards the other two ghosts. They both turned intangible, and the lightning passed harmlessly through them. Valerie threw a couple ecto-grenades at the ghost, and she jumped up, and blasted lightning out of her mouth at Valerie. The ghost hunter was zapped painfully, screaming in agony.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Tucker shouted. He charged up the dark energy in his palm, but before he could throw it, the ghost shot lightning, which hit his palm and canceled out his attack. As Tucker shook his hand out. Cujo, in his giant form, leaped on the ghost, pinning her to the ground. As she struggled to get out, Valerie, who by now had recovered, threw a bunch of razor blades at her.

"Cujo, move!" she shouted. The dog didn't need telling twice, and before you could say 'explosion', the ghost blew up, leaving behind only green ectoplasm.

"There you are, guys!" Sam said, running over to them. "I got us rooms, and-" Looking around at the ectoplasm, and obvious signs of battle, she asked "I just missed a fight, didn't I?"

"Uh, yeah, you kinda did." Valerie said, activating her watch and changing back into her normal clothes as Cujo turned back into his puppy form.

"Hey, are you okay, Tuck?" Danny asked, noticing Tucker looking at his left hand, which was still sparking.

"I don't know." Tucker said. "It feels kind of weird-I think when she blasted my hand it drove the nanobots crazy."

"Uh-oh." Danielle said, remembering what Tucker had said the first time they had met, about the nanobots inside his hand killing him from the inside out.

"There's only one person I know who can fix this." Tucker said. "My old mentor." Sam sighed as she realized what this meant.

"I'll go cancel our reservations." she said.

* * *

><p>And that was how, later, the gang found themselves walking (or, in the ghosts' case, flying) through town. Sam was NOT a happy camper. She had blown a fat load of cash to get herself and her friends checked into a hotel, had to ask for a refund, had been walking for hours, and her feet were starting to hurt.<p>

"Um, Tucker, not to sound like a whiny bitch, but how much farther is your mentor?" she asked.

"We're here." Tucker said, stopping in front of a house. He knocked on the door.

"Hello?" he called out. "It's me, Tucker!"

"Tucker?" a man's voice called out. "Hold on, I'll be right with you." After a few seconds, the door opened-and the others gasped. Tucker's mentor...looked exactly like him. Well, an older version of him, with a mustache.

"Oh yeah-you guys, my dad's my mentor. He was an exorcist too, and after my mom died, he continued to teach me."

"Tucker, are these your friends?" the older Mr. Foley asked.

"Yeah." Tucker answered his dad. "This is Danny Phantom, Sam Manson, Valerie Gray, and Danielle." Cujo barked, as if to say "Hey! What about me?"

"Oh yeah, and that's Cujo." Tucker said. His dad rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Three ghosts and two ghost hunters on the same team?"

"It's okay Dad, Danny and Danielle are cool." Tucker encouraged him. "And Cujo's Valerie's pet."

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Foley?" Sam interrupted. "Tucker's hand got messed up in a fight with a ghost, and he said you could fix it." Tucker's dad looked at his son, and Tucker held up his hand, which was slightly burnt.

"Ooh." Mr. Foley winced.

"The nanobots are acting up." Tucker said. "Do you think you could-"

"Well, of course, son!" the man said, ushering them all inside. "And while you're here, you must tell me about the adventures you've had so far." As the gang walked inside, Sam noticed Bertrand dusting.

"What up, Bertrand?" Tucker asked as he walked by him.

"Mister Tucker!" Bertrand said.

"Nice place you got here." Danielle said, floating above the rest of them.

"You kids make yourselves at home." Tucker's dad said. "Hopefully, we shouldn't take too long." Sam was about to walk to the couch to give her feet a much-needed break, when she suddenly noticed a picture by the TV. In the picture, Tucker's dad and an attractive woman, who Sam guessed was Tucker's mom, were holding a much younger Tucker by either of his hands, all of them with happy smiles on their faces.

"They were all very happy together." Sam turned around, and saw that Bertrand had come behind her. "Mister Tucker's mother was still alive when I joined their household. One of the first things I noticed right away was what a strong, dedicated woman she was. She and her family fought ghosts bravely together, and every time it looked like her husband or son were in danger, she would put her own life on the line to protect them.

"After I started living with them, I saw just how much they all loved each other. Mister Tucker and his father were never happier than when they were with her. And then-there was that night when the nanobots finally ended her life..."

* * *

><p>"<em>Miranda! Miranda!" The frantic man held his wife's shoulders as her body went into violent convulsions and she started gasping for breath. <em>

"_Mom!" The 11-year-old Tucker shouted, and started to run to his mother, only for Bertrand to hold him back. _

"_Mister Tucker, no!" he said. Tucker could only watch in horror as his mother continued to suffer. Finally, after a few excruciating moments, she stopped. Her body went completely limp, and her head rolled to the side. Immediately, everybody in the room knew that she would never rise again._

* * *

><p>"It was hard for both of them." Bertrand said. "Even I get sad sometimes, thinking about it.<p>

"It's especially hard for Mister Tucker's father, since his son was born with the same nanobots that killed his wife. After all this time, it must be a relief for him to know that he is still alive."

"Th-That must be horrible." Sam said, genuinely sympathetic to Tucker's plight. Suddenly, a realization dawned on her. Every single friend that she had made since coming to the Ghost Zone had suffered terrible losses. Mr. Lancer lost his adopted daughter. Danny lost his father and the girl he had thought of as a sister. Tucker lost his mother and was in danger of losing his own life in the future, too. Valerie lost her father, her brother (to Vlad's control), and most likely every friend she had. Danielle lost her parents. And many of these losses could all be traced back to one source: Plasmius. He had turned Danny and Jazz against each other and caused her death with the wound HE had inflicted on her, infected Tucker's grandfather, and subsequently him and his mother with dangerous nanobots, and slaughtered Valerie's entire neighborhood while masquerading as Danny and used a shard of the Divine Jewel to turn AJ into his puppet. Sam clenched her fists in anger.

_That evil bastard!_ She thought. _He manipulates and kills people just to achieve his own goals! My friends have suffered so much-all because of him! We have to find all the shards of the Divine Jewel before him, and then destroy him once and for all!_

"Hey Sam, can I talk to you?" Sam looked up and saw that Valerie had approached her. She shrugged.

"Yeah, sure." she said. The two girls walked outside, and once they were out, Valerie said

"Well, I don't think the others want to listen to me, but, well-about me betraying you guys..."

"Valerie, forget it." Sam said. "All you wanted was your little brother back. I'd probably do the same thing if I had any siblings. If anyone's to blame, it's Plasmius! He's screwed all of you guys over!" An angry look crossed Valerie's face.

"Well, he'd better watch out, cause we're gonna beat him!" she said angrily, but confidently.

"Anyway Val, you had no choice. And we're all still alive, aren't we?"

"True." she said, nodding.

"Now come on." Sam said, smiling gently. "Let's get inside."

* * *

><p>Tucker winced as his dad poked at the microscopic robots inside his hand with his surgical tools.<p>

"Relax, Tucker." Mr. Foley said. "The sooner we get this done, the better."

"Yeah, I know Dad." Tucker said. "It just feels kinda weird, is all."

"So son?" His father asked as he continued poking around inside him, "Have you gone out with that Goth chick yet? Or the Ghost Hunter?"

"Well, no." Tucker said. "I think Danny has a thing for Sam, and I don't really want to hit on Valerie after all she's been through lately."

"Well, I can understand that." His father said. "Although even if you just get to 'know them', if you know what I mean..."

"DAD!" Tucker shouted, blushing furiously. "I'm 14!"

"I know, son," his dad said, "But you must think about the future. I mean, if, Heaven forbid, you do happen to get killed by the nanobots inside of yourself before destroying Plasmius, then you'll need to produce an heir who can stop him." Tucker blushed even redder.

"I'm not sure I want to pass this condition on." Tucker said. "Also, you're a dirty old man!" His dad just chuckled to himself, just happy for this time with his son.

"Maybe so, but I'm _your_ dirty dad." he said. He looked back at the microscope. "Well, it looks like the nanobots are all back to normal." he remarked. "They're not malfunctioning anymore. And it doesn't look like they're going to spread to any other part of your body. "I'd say you're done." Tucker looked at his hand, opening and closing it into a fist. It _felt_ normal.

"Well, thanks." he said.

"Anytime, son." Mr. Foley said.

* * *

><p>At Tucker's insistence, the gang stayed overnight, and, by the next morning, was heading out again.<p>

"Thanks for everything, Dad!" Tucker said, waving at him. "I'll be back, I promise you!" Mr. Foley sighed as he watched his son disappear into the distance.

"I only hope so." he said quietly. "I only hope so."

**AN**: _Yeah, Tucker may have been kinda OOC during that part with his dad. But hey, we get to learn about his past with his mother! That's awesome, right? You know what I want for Christmas? For you nice people to press that review button and leave me a few kind words. Please? Please?_


	16. The Tale of the Divine Jewel

**AN**: _I realize that this chapter is a bit short, please, just bear with me here, this was the first one I wrote after writing a few chapters of my Invader Zim fanfic. However, it DOES explain the origins of the Divine Jewel, so I hope you like it anyway!_

_Disclaimer: How about a poem? Roses are red, violets are blue. I don't own DP, and neither do you._

That night was a quiet one. After walking for a while, the gang had found another hotel to stay in, that allowed ghosts and animals, which was good news for Cujo. They were able to get two rooms, one for the boys, and one for the girls.

"So, um, how's your hand?" Danny asked Tucker. It was around 9 o'clock at night, and Danielle and Cujo were asleep already, but all the teenagers were still up.

"Way better." Tucker said, looking down at his limb. "It doesn't feel all weird anymore."

"Well, that's good." Danny said nonchalantly. A long silence then passed between the two. Neither boy knew what to say next. Finally, Danny decided to leave and go check on Sam.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Journal,<em> Sam wrote,

_It's so weird how much my life has changed. Until three weeks ago, I was just Sam Manson, high school freshman. And now I'm in a different dimension fighting ghosts and searching for jewel shards. Not to mention the fact that I've befriended three ghosts, an exorcist, and a ghost hunter. Sometimes, this all seems like a crazy dream, but the fighting, the danger-that's all too real._

"Since when do you keep a journal?" Valerie had snuck up behind Sam at some point during her writing. Sam's first instinct was to jump out of her skin, but she flipped her instinct the bird and kept her cool.

"Since right now?" she shrugged. "These quiet moments, when we're not fighting ghosts or finding jewel shards, are so rare that I think I'll go crazy if I don't do something." Valerie laughed.

"I think I know what you mean." she said. "I've been trained my whole life to be a ghost hunter, and one of the first lessons I was taught was to ALWAYS be on my guard. No matter how peaceful it may seem, there could always be a ghost lurking nearby, waiting for the right moment to attack."

"Speaking of ghosts..." Sam remarked as she noticed Danny phase through the ceiling.

"Um, uh, hey." Danny said, trying to avoid Sam's eye.

"Hey." Sam remarked back.

"Danny?" Valerie asked. "What're you doing here?"

"Just, um, checking to make sure you guys aren't being attacked by ghosts or anything." Sam raised an eyebrow at him.

"Danny, if there had been a ghost attack, EVERYONE would've noticed." she said. Tucker then chose that moment to walk in.

"Hey Val, think you could keep a closer eye on that dog of yours?" he asked, an irritated look on his face. "Just now I stepped in invisible dog doo!" Just as Valerie started to apologize, Danielle bolted upright in bed.

"Hey! Some of us are trying to sleep here!" she said angrily.

"Sorry, Danielle." Sam apologized, just remembering their smallest member (not counting Cujo). "I guess I'm just a little antsy about where we go from here."

"I think we all feel that way." Danny admitted, floating down to the ground. Sam looked at the large jewel shard around her neck.

"You know, it just occurs to me, we've been hunting the shards of this down, but I don't even know much about it, aside from the fact that it makes ghosts stronger. How did something this powerful even come to exist?"

"I know how." Valerie said quietly. "My daddy told me the story once, a couple years back.

"A long time ago, in the real world, there lived a powerful wizard. He used his magic to do good and help people, and everyone loved him. Then one day, the wizard met a beautiful and mysterious young woman who was interested in him. They started seeing each other regularly, and he ended up falling in love with her.

"Unfortunately, the young woman was actually an evil ghost, who just wanted the wizard's power for her own. One night, she went to meet him in a dark forest, and there, they kissed under the stars. However, what she was actually doing was sucking out his powers. Once the wizard was powerless, she revealed her true form to him, and attempted to destroy him, now that she had no further use for him.

"Fortunately, though, the wizard had long suspected the woman, and threw a potion he had brought along with him onto her. The potion removed his magical power from the ghost, however, it couldn't be returned to him, and was solidified in the form of a powerful amber-colored gem. The wizard used this jewel to destroy the monster, and then, to make sure that no other evil being could ever get their hands on it, he gave it to a clergyman, Elias Lancer.

"Lancer..." Danny said thoughtfully. "Wait a minute, is that...?"

"Yes." Valerie confirmed. "I think it's possible that Elias was Mr. Lancer's ancestor. He passed the jewel down to his ancestors, even after people came into the Ghost Zone..."

"And then Lancer passed the responsibility of guarding the Divine Jewel down to his adopted daughter, Jazz." Danny finished.

"Well, that's informative." Sam said. She looked at the Divine Jewel again. "That _would_ explain why it's so powerful, though."

* * *

><p>Later, everyone was asleep in bed. Everyone, that is, except Sam, who lay awake, staring at the moon, mind full of thoughts.<p>

_Now I know just how important finding the jewel shards are._ She thought. _There's no way I'm letting Plasmius get the power of the Divine Jewel. _Shortly before nodding off, she wondered what she would wish for, given the chance.

* * *

><p>Miles away, unseen by the world, Plasmius stood before his new would-be associate.<p>

"They're quite an odd group." he said. "A half-ghost, an exorcist, a ghost hunter, a little ghost, a ghost dog and a human girl who can sense the jewel shards. They have many shards already. Of course, you understand that I can't have that. So, here's the deal-you help me steal the jewel shards from those children, and I grant you your freedom." An evil smile, which was probably meant to be charming, crossed his face. "Do we have an agreement?" There was silence for a few seconds, before a voice reluctantly answered

"Yes...master."

**AN**: _Ooooooo! Who could that be? By the way, I have a question-do you guys think I should start putting my IZ fanfic on ? I've been pondering it for a while, but I'm not so sure. If I did, would you read it? Fair warning though, it's ZAGR (Zim and Gaz romance), so if you're not a fan of the pairing, don't read it._


	17. I quit

Attn Readers (if there are any of you left), I've decided to stop writing _Of Ghosts and Demons_. Now, before anyone says anyone, this has nothing to do with lack of reviews. I've just run out of ideas for this story, and I don't see it going anywhere. Besides that, I also have another fanfic I want to start writing. Sorry to disappoint anyone who's still reading, I've just completely lost my motivation to continue.


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